The Sound of Pain
by Gokayu
Summary: This is the sequel to 'The Sound of Fear'. An alternate universe fic which guesses at Sasuke's time in Sound. This story deals with his return from Sound. SasuNaru, NaruSasu.
1. Chapter 1

_**Notes, disclaimer and more: **This is the sequel to 'The Sound of Fear' which can be found on my user page. It is the middle segment of an alternate universe fiction depicting the possibilities of Sasuke's time in Sound, his return and his future (respectively corresponding to The Sound of Fear, The Sound of Pain and The Sound of Fury). _

_This story will be (probably only after the first couple of chapters) much more deeply yaoi and sasunaru. (I've found it helps if both partners can actually see the other .grin.) It is also for the time being an acceptable T rating._

_Naruto, Sasuke and the rest of their world do not belong to me however much I wish they did._

_Of course, all criticism and comments are muchly appreciated._

_Also and lastly, this first chapter is for Shadowbright. (Because you were so right about the comma, omg. Love.)_

_Enjoy!_

**The Sound of Pain**

**Chapter 1**

"What the hell happened out there, Inuzuka?" The voice of the Hokage is loud and demanding, the woman herself is flustered and running to meet Kiba and his charge. Her hair is untied, robes barely holding her large chest and her eyes show hints of sleeplessness. She was taken from her bed to this meeting, that much is obvious. Behind her is Shizune, looking much more composed, if slightly rumpled. The guards step back and out of the room on an exasperated look from the Hokage and the shaken Kiba finally manages to speak.

"I'm not sure, Hokage-sama. It just... it all happened so fast." Inuzuka Kiba doesn't look well at all. He's paler than his natural tan would have anyone believe he could get, his words have a hesitant tremor to them that's too unusual for him. He has blood all over the red marks on his cheeks, in his hair and his clothes are torn, showing light bruises and cuts. He holds a limp form in his arms and only half his attention is on the Hokage's words. He seems unharmed, but looking at the dilated pupils, the shake of the hands and hearing the tremble in the words, it's obvious that he's in shock.

"Where's your captain, boy? The rest of the team?" Tsunade stalks over to the Inuzuka, intent on looking over the wounds of the only two men back from the mission she sent them on. The words out of the shock-ridden boy have her freeze in her movements, "Dead... they're all dead."

Tsunade finally takes in, really understands the tattered state in which the boy came back, his eyes unfocused and his too-tight hold on the body he holds. She softens her voice and raises the nin's chin to look at him. Seeing that Kiba is unable to form words anymore, his shaking worsening, she quickly orders, "Shizune, take him to the infirmary."

Tsunade takes the limp body from the boy's arms, freeing him of the burden of the dead so he can get some treatment. The report can wait. Kiba holds onto the man in his arms desperately enough that the Hokage has to put some actual strength into pulling the body away from him. Once the corpse has left Kiba's arms though, it's almost like he forgets it ever existed and he's tamely led away by Shizune, Akamaru following inches behind both worriedly.

There's sudden movement in the form she holds that brings Tsunade's focus back to the man. She takes in a sharp breath of surprise at having not sensed that this one still lived. She lowers the body to the ground and quickly looks him over for injuries. Her hands lightly run over the torn clothing, the blood and cut flesh of the man's chest. He's badly hurt, his heartbeat is erratic and unstable. Frowning, the blond woman focuses Chakra to her hands and quickly administers first aid. She stabilizes the heartbeat, starts the healing process in the wound, accelerating the regeneration of cells. She only looks up at his face when she's sure he'll live.

She finds two red eyes looking at her steadily and her jaw drops in surprise. "Uchiha."

His face looks calm and determined, as composed as she remembers the boy being. No hint of strain seems obvious on his face. If Tsunade didn't know for a fact that he has a hole in his stomach, she would believe him well enough to fight her. It's only in the little details that pain becomes evident. It's in the small twist of one corner of his mouth, the way his red sharingan fades back to black within a second, the little line of strain on his forehead.

His mouth opens and Tsunade holds her breath, thinking of all the trouble having this boy back will cause. She can already feel the headache and the heartache. He's caused enough of both as is.

"Don't." His voice is cool and controlled and Tsunade frowns.

"You have no say in what happens to you right now, Uchiha Sasuke. You are my patient, no more, no less." His mouth tightens in displeasure, but before he can say anymore, a wave of pain overwhelms him, freezing his features and body. His eyes roll back and he loses consciousness.

"Stubborn boy." Tsunade pulls him up in her arms, frowning at how little he weights. Fifteen year old boys should be heavier than that, shouldn't they? Especially tall ones like him. She considers her options, cursing the boy in her arms for coming back _now_ and like _this_. She can't put him in the hospital until she's decided of what to do with him. She can't let Konoha know about him if she intends to exile him. There's just too many things to think about. What Tsunade needs is to earn some time. To delay the inevitable so she knows what to do when it comes. So she knows what to say to that blond-haired, blue-eyed child who wants to be Hokage when he learns that his best friend came back half dead along with news of a decimated team.

Sighing, Tsunade looks down at the black-haired boy. He looks hurt. It's the only thing she can come up with. He doesn't look evil, tainted or calculative. He just looks... hurt. "Kids will be kids." They'll make mistakes. Important ones that cause lazy Hokages way too much work on a Saturday.

Her mind is made up when she looks up from his face. She lowers him on her desk, stripping what remains of his shirt to bandage his wounds properly. When that's done, she performs a minor henge on him, giving him the look of a very cute, redheaded female nin. Tsunade then goes to the first of her ANBU guards waiting outside the door and orders, "Get me Kakashi."

When Tsunade turns back to look at her new charge, she curses, realizing she hasn't even thought of covering the boy... now girl's breasts. She covers him with a few more bandages and idly strokes a finger through the red locks. It's a useless habit but Tsunade can't quite help herself, looking down at the injured child on her desk. She's mostly curious about what happened to him. How Orochimaru runs Sound and exactly where the hell is it?

The sympathy she feels for the boy is there, but only insofar as he chose to leave and go to Orochimaru when he was twelve. Seeing all that those children can do, how strong they are... it often makes people forget that they're just children. Barely past puberty. Tsunade remembers herself at that age, thinking she was an adult. Untried by life and eager for it to come so she could call herself a woman.

Shaking her head, the Hokage stops petting the boy's hair. If trials make an adult, then this boy is an old man already. And if that were the case, he would be fully responsible for his actions.

The knock at the door interrupts her musings and she nods, glad to soon be rid of the presence of the boy. She walks to the door and lets Kakashi slip by. His one eye takes in everything the first time. He doesn't quite recognize Sasuke yet, that much is obvious by his lack of reaction to the injured _girl_. Good.

"Kakashi, thank you for making it so fast. We've received some bad news and I'm going to need your help."

Kakashi's eye is set on the Hokage, but the presence, the feel of the girl on the counter is so familiar it's a strain not to look back and see if he can't recognize her.

"Bad news, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes. Acording to the information we have now, Yahide's team has been decimated on their last mission. Only the young Inuzuka made it back." Tsunade lets Kakashi absorb the reported death of yet another friend before she continues, once again claiming his attention. "Kiba came in carrying a very strange burden." The Hokage leads Kakashi towards the table where the unconscious boy rests. "I performed a henge on him until I've decided what we're going to do with him. I want you to take _her_ back to your home and take care that she heals properly in the meantime."

The second the word 'henge' is out of Tsunade's mouth, Kakashi lifts his headband, unveiling his Sharingan. His eyes widden and he whispers, "Sasuke..." A mere second later, he asks, "Do we know what happened to him?"

"Neither Kiba nor he were in a state to give any useful information." Sighing under her breath, Tsunade adds for Kakashi's benefit, "The Inuzuka was covered in blood. Mostly Sasuke's, but that doesn't account for all of it. It's imperative that no one learns of these events, Kakashi. I want complete silence on the entire issue of the Uchiha until ordered otherwise, is that clear?"

Nodding, Kakashi finally tears his eyes away from the unconscious shape of his former student, "It's clear, Hokage-sama."

"Even from Team 7, Kakashi. No one must know but you, me, the Inuzuka and Shizune until I've made up my mind about him."

"Understood."

"Good, then take him."

Another curt nod is Kakashi's answer and he slides an arm under Sasuke's knees, the other around his back, lifting him easily. He disappears through the window, carefully cradling the boy against his chest.

When he finally puts Sasuke to bed, Kakashi strips him and covers him with the blankets, thinking of how horrible that henge really is. It forbids Kakashi from really trusting his senses that Sasuke is back. That he's safe.

One hand rests on top of Sasuke's heart, feeling the steady drum, and Kakashi closes his eyes against the illusion of red hair. He can feel his student's presence better and it's comforting.

When morning comes, Kakashi still hasn't moved.

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Sasuke wakes up an hour after Kakashi finally convinces himself to leave his post. His eyes snap open and the pain floods back instantly. He clenches his fists against it, focusing on breathing steadily. When he feels he's recovered enough to attempt it, Sasuke raises up on his elbows, almost screaming at the feel of his stomach muscles tearing anew. He bites through his bottom lip and falls right back to the mattress. Long red hair flows in his face and for a moment, that completely distracts Sasuke from the pain.

_Tayuya?_

His taxed brain can find no other explanation and Sasuke turns his head, trying to spot the female nin. Halfway through the motion, Sasuke realizes that there's not enough white for the pain he's in. The entire line of thought has the boy's mind screaming agonizingly hurtful warnings. _Tayuya... something about Tayuya._

Sudden urgency fills him, he can't explain it but he has to find Tayuya _now_. Sasuke grits his teeth against the pain and rolls to the side. He figures it'll be easier to move once he's on the floor. Using his legs right now seems to be begging for unbearable pain. His fingers tighten on the bedside and Sasuke pulls himself as close as he can get to the edge. He looks at the ground floor waiting for him and closes his eyes. It's going to hurt like a bitch, but he needs to find Tayuya. Needs to make sure she's okay. So he gives himself a push off the bed and lands with a dull thud and a barely muffled scream at the jolting of torn flesh. His vision swims before his eyes and he nearly loses his hold on consciousness, but the barest hint of willpower makes him hold on.

Sasuke looks up at the door he needs to go through. It looks so plainly ordinary. Nothing like the cells and bars of Sound. But that fact doesn't fully register with Sasuke. Neither do the pictures on the walls and the suspicious silence. When the door slams open and Kakashi comes in though, Sasuke freezes. He looks at Kakashi's masked face and nothing makes sense anymore. He doesn't have time to catch up with the notions his brain is trying to feed him because Kakashi is gathering him up and putting him back on the bed with more care than Sasuke can remember anyone ever showing him but Ren. It makes Sasuke want to bite Kakashi's hand, because it's the only thing he can do.

He doesn't though. He just locks eyes with Kakashi, fingers twitching with pain. He's almost delirious with it now, so he's fairly sure Kakashi must be an illusion. That admonishing look in his eyes has to be a figment of Sasuke's imagination. If Kakashi is real, then Sasuke's in Konoha. If Kakashi's real then Sound and Tayuya aren't.

If Kakashi is real, then Tayuya's dead.

It's not something Sasuke is ready to face but it doesn't seem like he'll get any choice in the matter. His swimming vision brings back the screams. The agonized screams of the beautiful, strong redhead. It brings back the noise of her bones breaking, her flesh ripping, her _breathing_ not stopping. All Sasuke can hear is her begging him for help, all he can see is the way part of her face was cut away, how her breasts were brutally ripped off her body...

In Kakashi's bed, Sasuke convulses and screams, just once before he goes back to blissful darkness.

_tbc..._

_For those who may be confused about Tayuya: This is an alternate universe fiction in which Tayuya did not die during the battle with Shikamaru. The prequel goes into greater details about her relationship with Sasuke than I could in just a few lines._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Aha! Naruto's great return! And Lee's... (cough) question. I felt very evil for doing this to Lee of all characters but couldn't resist. Enjoy!_

**The Sound of Pain: Chapter 2**

In a different part of Konoha, a pink-haired kunoichi is dragging behind her an orange-clad blond, who looks all the world like he wants the ground to swallow him up.

"Naruto, he's been acting really strange! Now if you could please just go to him and see what's wrong!" The please is fully superfluous coming from Sakura's lips. This is an order and Naruto knows it.

"But Sakura-chan! He's weird. It's normal for him to act weird! Besides if you're so worried you can go and ask him yourself!" The speech is punctuated with several attempts at escaping the pink Kunoichi's grasp, all successfully thwarted by said pink menace.

There's a light blush gracing Sakura's cheeks and she mumbles, "I don't want to seem impertinent... you stick your nose in everything, so it's okay for you to ask. It might be a... guy thing. You know..." Sakura's free hand waves about, trying to illustrate a point to the blinking Naruto.

"Oooh, I see. You have a crush on him." Naruto looks pleased with his conclusion and nods seriously to himself, "Alright, Sakura-chan, I'll find out whether he likes you back!" Naruto never saw the fist coming. He finds himself on the ground, nursing his hurting head, "What was that for?"

"You idiot! Moron! Just because I'm worried for my friend, doesn't mean I've given up on..." She interrupts herself, breaking from anger to sadness in a split second.

Naruto pauses in his charade too. His heart gives a lurch, because every time Sasuke's name isn't mentioned, every time they avoid saying it, they both feel his presence that much more keenly. It's a touchy subject they usually succeed in not thinking about, this absence in their hearts. Sakura must really be worried to slip so easily.

"Anyway. Just go and see that he's okay." It's a fake attempt at cheerfulness and Sakura sighs inwardly at just how fake it sounds too.

"Hai, hai!" The smile is back full force on Naruto's face, but it's worse than before. He disappears through the doors and dismisses the dark mood hovering near him. A ninja must be strong. Naruto's smile widdens. Yeah. Strong. He's on a mission now. Naruto's eyes shift from left to right in search of his prey. If he were a green-clad, bowl-haired, thick-brow ninja, where would he hide?

Of course, the pantry.

Naruto lowers his body's center-balance to a near-crawling crouch and stealthily tip-toes to the large pantry in the back of the Dojo. Distantly, he thinks it's a horrible place to hide and no way is he going to find Lee there. It's the single most obvious thing in the Dojo. But it doesn't deter him from at least attempting to look like he knows what he's doing and he holds his breath, the tips of his fingers curling around the handle. He pulls the door open with one harsh move and yells out a battle cry.

He's answered by an equally enthusiastic cry of surprise and a well-aimed kick slams into his chest, propelling him back to the entrance door where he awkwardly lands upside down, shoulder and ear on the ground, feet in the air. Naruto groans and slumps from the position, sliding on his back, lying on the floor. "Ow, thick-brows! What was that for?"

Said ninja uncurls from his position in the pantry and apologetically offers a hand up to Naruto, "Ah, gomen, Naruto-kun. I was preoccupied and my youthful senses were all involved in my thoughts. I should have known you were not my enemy!" He seems regretful enough and Naruto knows what he's going to say before he even opens his mouth, "To show you my regret, I shall do 2000 push-ups with you on my back!"

Naruto blinks. He's used to Lee's strange ways, but even this is a little extreme. Not the self-punishment, that's just a part of Lee, but the not seeing him coming part. That's odd. "Nah, it's okay. Didn't hurt me none!" Naruto's smile brightens and he rubs a hand through the back of his hair where his head made contact with the door. Ouch though.

Lee drops into position for his push-ups and looks expectantly at Naruto, "I must insist, Naruto-kun. My lack of attention caused you injury. It is only fair that I be punished so as to not make the same mistake again."

"Fine, fine!" Naruto grumbles a little as he climbs onto Lee, trying to find a comfortable position. He ends up sitting crosslegged in the middle of the green nin's back, arms crossed stubbornly. The ups and downs begin and Naruto's balance is compromised for a few seconds before he settles into the rhythm.

Near the five hundred mark, Naruto's yawning and drumming fingers are out of control. He's bored, bored, bored. "Boring, boring, boring..." Naruto shifts his position on top of Lee so he can watch the ceiling, "Ne, thick-brows, what were you thinking so hard about?"

Though not even breathing hard yet, the green-clad nin pauses in his series on a firmly spoken, "Five hundred and six..." He starts again a few seconds later, answering Naruto's inquiry, "It was nothing relevant, Naruto-kun."

Curiosity piked, Naruto plants his knees on Lee's back and bends over his head to look at his eyes, "Really? Nothing at all?"

The blush could be from the exertion but really, Lee, tired after five hundred push-ups? Right. "Really, really, really nothing at all?"

The lack of answer has Naruto itching to know. He grabs Lee's left wrist, stopping him mid-push and tugs him up. "Come on, thick-brows, spill!"

"It is a... personal matter. You would not wish to hear of it, I am sure." Lee's movements keep mimicking the push ups for two seconds before he realizes that he and Naruto are facing each other, now upright.

"Hey, c'mon. You're my friend, of course I wanna hear!" Naruto forcefully sits the other nin, then settles beside him. "I promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone! Even though Sakura-chan's going to kill me for it! So? How about it?"

"You spoke to Sakura-chan? Why would she kill you?" Completely side-tracked from his exercice and thoughts at that name, Lee looks at Naruto with hopeful, wide eyes that almost brim with tears.

"Geez, you've got it so bad. She's concerned about you. Says you've been weird, avoiding her when she wants to see you, jumping at every small thing. I keep telling her that you're always weird but she didn't seem to hear me so that's why she sent me here so viol..."

"My prized, youthful Sakura-chan was concerned!" Lee exclaims, interrupting Naruto's spiel. His tearful eyes widden even more ridiculously and he stands, "I must go apologize at once!"

Naruto roughly pulls him down and growls at him, the sound more animalistic than it should be coming from a fifteen-year-old. His voice is more serious than anyone would give him credit for as he asks, "What's wrong, Lee? Sakura was really worried about you."

The tone is enough to cut through Lee's enthusiastic attempts to go apologize to the object of his affections. He straightens up, looks down at Naruto with a deadly serious expression that Naruto would swear he only has when he fights. "Naruto-kun. I apologize in advance for my words. But if you repeat even one word of this issue to anyone, I will be forced to do something bad to you."

"Whoa, thick-brows, this mustbe bad if you're trying to threaten! You know you're horrible at it. Come on, you can trust me. Just tell Naruto what's wrong, okay?"

The green-clad nin sighs and sits back down. He looks like he's focusing intensely on trying to form words, so Naruto just lets him have his time. In the end, Lee manages to put the entire problem in one sentence that completely stuns the blond.

"Have you ever had... _thoughts_ about a man, Naruto-kun?"

_Thoughts? **Lee?**_

Naruto's dumb persona would pretend to misunderstand until Lee gave up adressing the subject, but looking at the uncomfortable squirm and confused eyes of his friend, Naruto can't find it within himself to ignore the issue. His eyes take on a mature look and his mouth loses the ever-present smile to settle into a contemplative line. He looks like a completely different person than he did seconds before with just those few changes.

He carefully measures his answer, pondering what he can say and what he can't.

"Yeah, I have. What's going on, Lee?"

"In all my youthful enthusiasm, I believe my body has mistaken some of my teammates for females. It is unbearably embarassing, Naruto-kun! I dearly love the sweet Sakura-chan and I have been having unsanitory thoughts about her which I cannot control! And worse! I have even had one dream where some... male teammate was... with her... and me." Lee's face is a dark tomatoe red and he looks so ashamed that Naruto can't help the pang of sympathy.

"Is it Neji?" Because Neji's the only one who looks enough like a girl to be mistaken for one in sexual fantasies...

A shamed nod of the head is Lee's answer and Naruto gives a sigh, pondering his options.

"There's no mistake that it's him in your... erm... thoughts?"

A dejected shake of the head.

"You know at our age, it's normal to be confused about those things, right? And you think naughty thoughts about Sakura-chan so you can't be gay. Have you tried... talking to him?"

Mortified eyes meet Naruto's and Lee opens his mouth to make an attempt at articulating the enormity of horror that very thought inspires. He can't quite manage it so Naruto's suddenly too-old eyes grow kinder and he says, "You know I had the same sort of thoughts about a teammate too. I would never take any of it back. Things were just... complicated between us." Naruto practically radiates sadness and hurt as he whispers those words. He continues on with the point soon after, "It's not the end of the world if you like another guy, Lee. It certainly isn't easy, but it's not the end of the world. I can testify for it."

And now it's the taijutsu-user's turn to look concerned about the blond, because there's no mistaking who that teammate of Naruto's could be. Naruto dismisses his worries with a fake smile and he adds, "Besides, I think your body's just confused. Neji makes one hell of a pretty girl after all." A glint of mischief comes back to Naruto's gaze and his smile reflects it. "I have a plan."

Distantly, Lee thinks now sounds about the right time to make a run for the door.

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Just outside of room 113 of Konoha Hospital, one medium-sized dog whines pitifully, scratching at the closed door. Having been forced to seperate from his master for a whole _day_ already, the animal is quite enthusiastically scratching a hole through the door. A young girl watches him go worriedly. Her fingers are winding together, tightening, then releasing and over and over again. It's a nervous habit that Hinata still has to rid herself of.

Suddenly, a larger hand closes on top of hers, effectively stilling the nervous motions. The arm belongs to one Aburame Shino, who isn't looking any different from usual apart from the fact that his dark sunglasses are falling just a little to one side, his high collar just a little rumpled around the back. If one knew Shino as Hinata does, they would instantly know that the boy did _not_ spend a good night. Anyone else looking at him would not notice the difference.

The Hyuuga heiress bites her lip instead of trying to bend her fingers out of shape and she turns to Shino, her white eyes concerned, "He'll be alright, won't he Shino-kun?"

The boy attempts a reassuring smile but in the end, it looks a little maniacal on the usually serious bug-user. It's a good thing it's hidden by his high collar. "He'll recover. Of that, I'm sure."

They're interrupted by the sound of a door opening and the Hokage herself exits. She looks more tired than one long night warrants and she nods at them. "You may go see him." Akamaru has already slipped by her and through the door, but before the two young nins do the same, Tsunade instructs them firmly, "Do not ask him anything."

They both nod seriously and Tsunade heaves a satisfied sigh. She walks back to her office, Shizune in toe. Both are silent, Tsunade is still thinking back on the words of the Inuzuka. When she reaches the private rooms assigned to the Hokage, she dismisses her assistant and closes the door firmly. Her chair is tugged to the back of the room, away from the desk and Tsunade settles in. Her eyes fall shut and she thinks back to the words exchanged...

_"So you found the remnants of a red-headed female, what happened afterwards?"_

_"I was..." Kiba's head lowers with something resembling shame and he continues with difficulty, "I was sick... It was so horrible, Hokage-Sama. She was still alive when we found her." Kiba firmly shuts his eyes against the memory, the same feeling of sickness washing over him._

_Tsunade gives the boy time enough to compose himself. She doesn't think sympathy would help him right now. She patiently waits for him to regain control over himself and go on._

_"The captain ordered me to go scout for whoever might've done it. But I don't think he sent me for that, he was just trying to give me a break." Again, Kiba has difficulty swallowing back his grief, but this time the wait is shorter before he goes ahead, "I headed west from the site and Akamaru brought my attention to a man hidden in the bushes." Kiba takes another quick break, as if for dramatic effect, and he says, "It was Sasuke. He was badly injured but alive. I couldn't believe my eyes... After three years he just pops back into our lives to cause havock... I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but I thought about leaving him there. He looked so hurt though... so **hurt**..." There's confusion in the boy's voice as he speaks. Kiba was never close to Sasuke. No one ever was but Naruto and Sakura. But he's always looked up to the other boy. Who hasn't looked up to the Uchiha really? Kiba's good and naturally caring nature pushed him to see beyond resentment. In truth, at that moment, he only saw Sasuke as a stray. Kiba could never stop himself from taking in strays. "I gathered him up and went back to report."_

_A long silence follows those words, so long in fact that Tsunade worries whether she'll have to push the boy into telling the rest of the story. Just as she's about to nudge him on, Kiba continues._

_"I heard a scream first. It was Nahoko. She sounded so scared... you know how she is, always tough and quiet. I tried to run back faster to help them. But when I got close... the smell was overwhelming. It smelled of blood and it was so strong that even Akamaru held back. When I finally managed to go back, there was a blond girl in the middle of the clearing. She couldn't have been more than thirteen. My captain and team members weren't moving, they were all in the position I left them in and their eyes were open. P...Part of their... Part of their chest was missing. And this small girl was sitting in blood and smiling." Kiba's voice is quiet with anger, fear and grief. "Who the hell would do something like this? I was gone for five minutes and when I got back they were all dead..." _

_Tsunade takes in a sharp breath, the information slowly sinking in. "Did it seem like the girl did it?"_

_"I don't know... I couldn't move... I had the Uchiha in my arms and she was looking at me with such innocent eyes. She took a look at him and I swear I saw her smile widen. Then she disappeared. Just poofed out like one of Naruto's fucking clones." With a growl, Kiba starts again, "Why the fuck didn't they kill me too, huh? I wasn't worth their time? I should've helped them, should've saved them... if only I'd been faster..."_

_Tsunade cuts him off right there, "Inuzuka, that's enough. There was nothing you could have done. If you keep thinking this way, you'll turn out like the Uchiha. You saved your life and his and you could have done nothing more." Sighing, she stands and pets his hair, "Focus on recovering, Kiba. And remember that you didn't kill them. What I want you to do is keep silent on the matter of the Uchiha. No one is to know of his presence in Konoha, understood?"_

_Swallowing past his anguish, Kiba nods, "I understand..." A second later, "Hokage-sama?"_

_"Yes, Inuzuka?"_

_"If you find who did this, you'll let me know, right?"_

_And that sounds so dangerously like Sasuke's need for revenge that for a long while, Tsunade doesn't know what to tell him._

_"I'll tell you if we find anything. Any helpful details you remember should be immediately reported to me and not a word of the Uchiha to anyone, is that clear?"_

_"Yes, Hokage-sama."_

_"Good. Now rest. I'll let in your visitors for a while."_

Tsunade's eyes snap open and she growls. She can't send people investigating on so little information... she'd be sending them directly to their deaths. What she needs is to get the Uchiha to tell what he knows. And that promises to be a load of fun...

_tbc..._

_Some replies: _

_Shadowbright: You're absolutely right about that line. I considered reworking it but I kinda like the jumbled impression it gives of Tsunade's thoughts. (pets Tsunade) Work is evil. And yeah, that was Tayuya. Sasuke's really good at bottling up, but even that one's gonna be a challenge. Hee! I'm glad you enjoy the fact that Sasuke made acquaintances in Sound. I have several more bits of that written that I didn't put in The Sound of Fear because they broke up the rhythm of the story. But I am hoping to find some spots for flashbacks in this one. As to whether or not we'll see a Beast of Pain... well... maybe we already have, who knows? (drops hints and love all around you) Hehehe._

_XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: Only the part in Sound is finished. The story is just starting, hun. Hope you enjoy yourself as much with this one as with the last!_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: I love this chapter. I really, really do. It makes me giggle with glee. Enjoy all!_

**The Sound of Pain: Chapter 3**

When Sasuke wakes the second time around, he doesn't attempt to get up. Firstly, his wrists are tied to the bed and secondly, his mind swims in a happily drugged hallucination. So he's quite content to stare at the ceiling and drift off. He's not hungry, not tired, not in pain and not thinking. Could life get any better?

Kakashi comes in a few hours later and somehow manages to feed him some soup. Sasuke feels none of the humiliation he should at being fed. He's a little too numb to protest. But for the first time he wants to speak. He doesn't even know why, it's a sudden urge out of the numbness and Sasuke has no option but to listen. His inhibitions are all but gone. So when Kakashi makes to leave, he drowsily asks, "How'd you fin'me?"

Pausing in the doorway, Kakashi smiles under his mask at the adorably sleepy tone of his former-student. He turns around and goes back to sit by Sasuke. "I didn't. Kiba found you. Don't you remember?"

There's an almost childlike denial that comes from Sasuke, his head shaking stubbornly from side to side. It serves to put his thoughts into some sort of order and his words are less slurred when he next speaks. "No... I mean back then."

"Ah." Kakashi contentedly smiles, "Call it intuition."

Sasuke lets out a derisive snort, knowing he won't get more than that. His vision is swimming and the barest hint of pain is coming back through the haze. Nothing that's happened in the last three years and a half seemed to matter for the last few hours, but now his mind is starting to push forth notions Sasuke just doesn't want to deal with. It's telling him about his escape from Sound and it's telling him things about the curse seal. It's reminding him of Nagraji and Ren and _Tayuya_.

Jerking up in his bonds, Sasuke's reddish hair again falls in his eyes and it's like someone's taken away the one pillar that was holding back the barrage of memories. His eyes fall stubbornly shut against it and he starts to struggle. His wrists twist and tug uneffectively against the cuffs tying him to the bed and all Sasuke can think of is getting this red hair _away_ because it's not right. It shouldn't be.

"Get it off me!" Mindlessly, Sasuke pulls at the bonds, struggling even against the hands that suddenly reach to hold him down. He's shaking with the strain but the pain in his body barely registers with his mind. The skin of his wrists tears against the bonds and he just wants to scream.

Kakashi holds the trashing Sasuke as best he can for a while before he realises that it's useless. The boy will keep hurting himself to get free. So Kakashi focuses some chakra into his palm and strikes the side of Sasuke's head, sending him to oblivion in a split second.

When the boy's body relaxes into unconsciousness, Kakashi gives a sad, tired sigh. His fingers pet long red hair affectionately for a few seconds. The Hokage sure has bad taste when it comes to henge. One curl wrapped around his index finger, Kakashi comes to a decision. He releases the hair and forms a few familiar seals. Just a second later, the henge is dispelled, revealing Sasuke's troubled face, his black hair and dark lashes.

"What sort of trouble did you get yourself into, hmm?" Kakashi redresses the wound carefully and tiredly wonders if fatherhood feels anything like this.

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Hyuuga Neji prides himself on both his immense depth of perception and his uncanny objectivity. He finds it's generally enough to keep his dignity, mind and body intact. Hyuuga Neji is desperately trying to remember that anger serves no true purpose and it only makes simple things look complicated.

Hyuuga Neji is _not_ someone whose dignity will be tainted by lewd women.

Hyuuga Neji is certainly not being dragged in a brothel by an overenthusiastic, fox-like blond. He isn't having his shirt subtly pulled at by some pouty-lipped, large-breasted, dark-haired beauty. He isn't blushing either. That's too below him to even consid...

"Aw, Neji's all shy!" That low-toned whisper makes up Neji's mind on the spot. He may be rational and objective but Naruto will die. Painfully. Hopefully tonight.

"I will kill you." His tone is colder than ice and Naruto giggles nervously, smile just a little on the hesitant side.

"B... But Neji! Look at all those gorgeous girls around you! Bet you wouldn't even need to pay them, heh?"

The brown-haired girl clinging to Neji's side purrs at that, "Mmm... definitely no charge..."

Neji gulps. It figures Naruto would know his way around this kind of... environment. The building is by all appearances a tea-shop, but this has nothing to do with the distinguished, tasteful hypocrisy of tea-shops run by geishas. The women don't possess the class of a geisha, neither do they have the same skills. They're here for one purpose and one purpose only. It makes Neji feel very bare, coming here. Because once you step inside this world, there is no hiding sexuality, no pretending you have class about it. No more acting as though you can fuck with dignity. It strips Neji of all his fine manners, making them look superfluous.

Especially since there's no way you can attempt looking dignified when you're desperately trying to keep a woman's hands out of your pants. "Naruto, why are we here again?"

"You needed to loosen up some. Get that gigantic stick out of your ass, y'know, that sorta thing." Naruto looks perfectly at ease sitting on the large purple cushions, sake in his hands. Neji really very badly wants to hurt him.

"Really now? How did I come to agree to this?"

"Oh you wanted to do me a favor in exchange for my being such an exceptionally good friend as to not mention to Gai that you lik..." Neji looks sharply at Naruto, his white eyes murderous and it stops Naruto from speaking the last of his sentence.

This boy in front of him has too many facets to pin down, even with the byakugan. A perfect idiot one second, a calculative opponent the next. Neji is firmly convinced that Naruto's mask of stupidity has been part of him for so long he doesn't really know how to rid himself of it, but sometimes... sometimes Naruto grows from a clumsy, dense boy to a mature, smart and strong man. That's why Neji's was tricked into coming here. Tricked. Yes, you heard right. The mighty Hyuuga genius was blackmailed, coerced, forced into coming to a bordello.

A sharp yelp almost escapes him when he feels cool fingers cup his crotch. He turns to stare wide-eyed at the guilty party only to find a smirking pair of lips and dark, dark eyes. She purrs, "Looks like I'm not going to have it easy tonight..."

Neji's mouth drops at the _nerve_ of this girl. He wants to tell her to back off and recover his unapprochable persona, but then what she said actually registers. Neji's cheeks turn an interesting shade of red and he just stares at her; her hand down his pants and her lustful eyes on him. Warm laughter snaps him out of it and the girl retreats, "He's really too cute, orange-boy. Too bad he's taken for the night..."

At that, Neji recovers some of his composure and turns accusingly towards his smirking blond-haired companion. "Taken?" The tone is something between indignation, fear and deadly threat, something only a Hyuuga could manage really.

Naruto laughs a little self-consciously, not liking the threat part of that last, but he continues on in apparent oblivion. "I took some arrangements for you, Neji! I knew you'd be feeling a little odd so I bought you a girl for the night! She's a real cutie you'll see!"

Only Naruto would think of making him feel better by buying him a girl for a night. Neji takes a deep breath to calm himself. It would be impolite to refuse, and even worse to stomp his foot and leave in a huff. Hyuugas do not leave in huffs. Ever. No matter how badly they want to.

So Neji does the only thing he can think of. He aims a kick at Naruto's shin and once he sees the surprise, shock and, thankfully enough, pain on Naruto's face, he gives a curt nod. "Very well. Where is this girl?"

Naruto holds his leg very carefully and glares daggers at Neji. He opens his mouth to demand that Neji explain his sudden violence but upon seeing the coldly angry look on his face, snaps it shut with just a low comment. "You're a sadistic bastard."

"You haven't seen the half of it, Uzumaki. If I survive the night, I'll make sure you don't survive the week." It's punctuated with a polite nod and Neji taking a sip from Naruto's cup of sake. He's regained the upper hand and it shows.

Naruto watches on, thinking the Hyuuga looks like a peacock putting his feathers back into their proper order. His smile isn't forced one bit as he takes the lead and stands, showing Neji to the back. "She's a fun little thing, don't you worry." It has been hell on Naruto to prepare this night. All the blackmailing and the energy that went into making this one single moment perfect. It'll all be worth it. Even if he'll have a bruise on his leg for weeks.

Hyuugas are uptight, closet sadists. Except for Hinata, of course.

Naruto looks around for the girl who's going to be looking after Neji for tonight. He smirks when he spots 'her'.

To be quite honest, it's been a hassle to even convince him to do this, and also... you would not believe how much sheer work went into making Lee look this attractive. Time after time, Naruto tried to henge him into something... well... a little more... luscious. But each attempt ended in failure until Naruto found the exact right combination.

The result is sitting in a dark green kimono, long legs gently curled as fingers slowly play with too-long sleeves. The face was the biggest challenge. There needed to be nothing to remind Neji of Lee. So the lips are wider, pouty and full, traced with dark red lipstick, the eyes are smaller, more inquisitive and a brown/green tint. The eyebrows, (god, the eyebrows) were thinned out as much as possible and hidden under long black hair that shines even in the dim light. Lee doesn't look luscious as a girl, he's cute. He looks adorable, not sexy. (It's the best one could hope to do after all...) Overall, Naruto is _very_ proud of himself. So he sits Neji in front of the girl and winks at a suddenly wide-eyed, scared Lee.

Naruto holds his breath as Neji takes in the girl, hoping against hope that he won't sense something wrong and activate that damn byakugan of his. Or worse, that he doesn't recognise Lee under there.

Neji, for his part, is finding the girl quite suiting enough. She's not strikingly gorgeous, but neither is she horrifyingly ugly. She's a mix of gentle and nervous and Neji can't help but see his cousin's nervous motions when he looks at the twirling hands. He sighs, telling himself the best way to make Naruto pay right now is to enjoy himself. And so Neji reaches out to stop the girl from twisting her sleeves into an unrecognisable shape. "Don't worry. I don't bite. What's your name?"

From the shock, Lee wrenches his hands away from Neji's touch. "Ah, gomen... my name is..." Er... What _is_ his name?

"Le... Leyla! That's Leyla, Neji." Naruto's almost twitching as he berates himself. _Can't believe I didn't think of a name. Stupid, stupid._

"I believe the girl can speak for herself, Naruto. Won't you give us a bit of privacy?"

"Ah... sure, sure... I'll be in the back if... you need any help..." Winking at Lee, Naruto walks back to his booth and breathes out sharply in relief. He mumbles to himself, "Come on, guys, don't blow it." While ordering another cup of sake, Naruto keeps his eyes on the couple. They seem to be nervously starting to talk, Lee being the one to initiate most of it while Neji politely nods. Sometimes Neji reminds him of Sasuke in the most painful way. But it's only ever just a second.

Truth be told, when Naruto thinks of Neji and Sasuke, it's more often than not in contrast to each other. The people who associate them together are blind to who they really are. They're both from prestigious families and they both have a troubled past and they both behave in vaguely the same removed fashion. But that's where similarities stop. Neji is cold anger whereas Sasuke's is burning hot. Neji's too polite to be rude and Sasuke couldn't give less of a shit. Sasuke's notion of honor is his dignity, Neji's dignity is what mostly dictates his honor. Sasuke is passion where Neji is reluctance. Neji is perceptive where Sasuke is blind.

Sighing under his breath, Naruto tries to drag his thoughts away from the dark-haired nin. It's been three years and a half since he last saw Sasuke and nothing about the intensity of what he feels has diminished. He's not as angry as he'd have others believe. Naruto has grown in maturity, despite what people may think. He's disappointed, he's hurt and he's worried sick. He's disappointed in himself most of all though. This one fight... that one meant something more than any other. That one was crucial and it was Naruto showing Sasuke that despite _everything_, despite hate and despite love, despite even Sasuke's trying to kill him, Naruto will still want him back.

And he fucking lost.

Of course he's hurt too. He's hurt that Sasuke meant to kill him. How could he not be? But somehow Naruto's good nature grants understanding where Sasuke couldn't have. He can see how badly Sasuke was hurt himself, he can see how much of that fight was him trying to prove to Naruto that _no, you can't love me. You can't love me because you can't deal with everything I have. You can't go all the way for me and I'll make you give up on me._

It's so sad to Naruto that the person he always thought the world of thinks so little of themselves. It's that fundamental belief that you're unworthy of love. It still gives Naruto's heart a wrench when he thinks back to the fury with which Sasuke fought against him.

Naruto still thinks that there's something odd about his connection to Sasuke. Because you shouldn't feel so deeply when you're twelve. You shouldn't feel as though the other person is half of you.

Heaving a sigh, Naruto forcefully drags his attention away from the heartache and back to Neji and Lee.

It's quite enough to distract him when he notices Lee's determination flash in his eyes, the same look he always has when he challenges himself to do something. _This is so not going to end well..._

Naruto watches wide-eyed as Lee grabs a hold of Neji's shirt and forcefully tugs him into a kiss.

Holy. Fuck.

Neji justfreezes up and Naruto can see his pupiless eyes widden to an impossible size. Far be it from him to be impolite to a lady, however. So when he recovers, he hesitantly wraps a hand around the back of Leyla's head and makes a feeble attempt at returning the kiss.

Then the most unexpected thing happens. Lee wrenches himself away and kicks Neji halfway across the room.

Naruto's jaw drops.

Neji's byuakugan instinctively activates and Naruto can see the veins starting to come up on the side of his eyes. _Shit!_

Naruto moves quick as lightning and grabs Lee's hand. He yells at Neji, hoping against hope that he'll be forgiven for this one day, "What did you _do_ to the girl, Neji?"

Neji, in utter surprise, releases the byakugan before it fully activates. He's about to utter a protest, especially seeing as every patron in the bar is looking his way with suspicion in their eyes, but he's interrupted by said girl.

"Naruto-kun, I _hated_ that! You were right! It was horrible!"

At this point, Neji is completely lost. First the girl forces him into a kiss, then when he starts to respond, kicks him across the room, making him look like the bad guy, and _now_ she says she hated it?

Well enough.

Neji Hyuuga has limits to his patience and one of them has just been reached and torn to pieces. Big time.

Naruto could swear he sees the air around Neji grow colder as the man rises to his feet, looking so dignified it hurts. His voice is icy as he speaks, "Please forgive my impertinence, milady." It almost sounds like an insult, the way it's spoken as though impertinence would never even rub against the Hyuuga. He's _pissed_. "It will not happen again." And with that, Neji turns on his heel and exits.

Lee's mortified face has Naruto sighing and he brings his friend out through the back door. It's only after Naruto's dismissed the henge and Lee's back to his thick-browed self that he starts to see the humor. Unable to help himself, Naruto starts to laugh.

"You... you have the worst timing... ever... thick-brows." Naruto is sitting on the floor, trying to regain control over himself and only half succeeding. "Remind me to _never_ let you kiss me. _Ever._"

"Naruto-kun... Neji was very upset. I do not believe that is a laughing matter."

That's sobering enough and Naruto looks at Lee a little more seriously, "Well then, maybe you should talk it out with him. Now that you know you don't like him like _that_." He works very hard not to giggle.

Swallowing with some difficulty, Lee nods. "It would appear that is the best solution indeed."

_tbc..._

_Some replies: _

_XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: God forbid I ever make you use your smiting powers! Hope you liked that one. Always cracks me up._

_Jenanien: I love Lee. (points up) I love Naruto too (giggle). And we haven't seen the last of Kiba yet. That poor darling... He'll take on a more important role in the next couple of chapters. About the OC, I'm not quite sure yet. Sasuke isn't being very forthcoming with the information so we'll just have to see! (I dislike OCs, so I wouldn't worry about the story revolving around them.) I try to update once every two or three days seeing as I'm always publishing at least three chapters in advance. I'm glad that you enjoy yourself reading, hun! _

_Shadowbright: (zips lips) Not telling. Just dropping hints. (giggle). As to the pairings... well there'll be no Lee/Neji... (snicker, points up). Maybe some Lee/Sakura, but that's doubtful for the moment. I might imply many other pairngs but those we'll see are probably just SasuNaru, ShikaIno and... (waves hands magically) mystery pairing! hehehe. Typo corrected, thanks! And I do think the style is a little different. It's mostly due to the fact that it's lighter, not as much shadows and angst as previously. I like to think that the writing style in TSoF reflects Sasuke's mindset in Sound, specifically. In this story, there's too many mindsets to be kept in the dark all the time as Sasuke was in Sound. Does that make sense?_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: I'm still not lifting the veil of mystery in this chapter, but fear not, more than just hints are coming your way! Enjoy!_

**The Sound of Pain: Chapter 4**

The third time Sasuke wakes is even better than the last. He stirs and wakes to an eyeful of very nicely shaped, large breasts bent over him. The attractive cleavage bounces lightly with the movement of the female and Sasuke slowly tears his eyes away from the twins to look up at the Hokage. He smirks at the focused and annoyed look on her face.

Her hands are over his stomach, forcing healing faster and of the large, life-threatening injury that tore his stomach before, only a manageably deep cut remains. It doesn't hurt for the moment, but Sasuke knows it will. It's the first time he's aware enough to take account of his own health. It's the first time he's able to feel surprise at still being alive. The memory of the fight hasn't quite come back to Sasuke, but all of his instincts whisper that he should be dead. He should be dead because he failed.

Distantly, Sasuke wonders how long Tsunade has been working on him. Kabuto would require at least two days to get the same result. He ponders thanking her, but this woman has his future in her hands. He's not going to be begging for favors.

She's too focused to notice that he's awake, but Sasuke can see Kakashi's sharp eye on him. He meets his gaze with a look of his own, something that's not quite a glare, not quite a thank you.

The Hokage grumbles under her breath, interrupting the meeting of stares. "Why did you dispell the henge, Kakashi? If anyone were to stumble in here they'd recognize him in a second!"

Kakashi opens his mouth to reply but whatever he was about to say is cut with Sasuke's next words, "What if I was the one to dispell it?"

Three eyes turn to fully focus on him and Sasuke feels just like he did when talking with Orochimaru. Like every word he says will be overanalysed and picked apart. Like every word he says can have devastating consequences.

So he keeps his mouth shut from there.

Tsunade, quite annoyed at the interruption, straightens up from her bent position (unfortunately removing the lovely sight of her breasts) and she sneers, "You can hardly even move, much less summon chakra."

Sasuke wordlessly raises a hand, looking at his fingertips. He is far from defenceless. The question now is whether or not he wants her to know it (Kakashi already knows). He supposes it might be a sign of good will to show her.

He closes his eyes and summons a high concentration of chakra to his middle finger and thumb, then snaps his fingers, producing a small yellow flame.

"Kakashi, leave us." Her voice holds all the authority a woman in her position can summon and Sasuke is relieved. She sounds nothing like Orochimaru. She doesn't even smell dangerous. Too soft-hearted. Too motherly. She's a healer, a caretaker. She's smart but not as objective, not as sharp as Orochimaru.

His former-teacher bows and turns to exit. On sheer power, Kakashi might not be able to take on the untameable force of Tsunade, but Sasuke thinks it's a little ridiculous for him to bow to someone who he could obviously outthink.

Still, Sasuke supposes Tsunade is Hokage for a reason. So when Kakashi leaves, he fully focuses on her. The burgeoning pain in his stomach is easy to ignore and the memories of whatever past he can't remember right now are of little to no importance at all. This will be a fight, and Sasuke won't lose it.

Tsunade gives a sigh as she looks at the stoically challenging boy in the bed. He's taken so much of Orochimaru with him that she almost feels nostalgic. She almost feels the longing for when her teammate was still her teammate. She pulls one of Kakashi's too-hard and too-straight chairs forward, then sits herself down by his bedside.

Her eyes meet Sasuke's and there's a lot in that gaze. There's resentment and respect and acknowledgment of the other's power. Tsunade has no idea whatsoever of where to start. What to ask him first. About Yahide's team? Orochimaru's almost unexistant activities in the past six months? What about mind-body transfer? Did it succeed? Is she somehow speaking to someone that's part Uchiha, part Orochimaru? What happened to him at Sound? Where is it? Who was that blond-haired girl at the crime scene? Why, where, how did he escape? How was he wounded?

Sasuke shakes his head mutely, a silent refusal to cooperate. There's just enough memory (_Tayuya_) to know that he can't (_Bijin_) tell the Hokage anything about (_Itachi_) what happened to him.

And so Tsunade has her first question. If the boy won't talk, she'll break down his facade and make him slip up. "Who was the redhead?"

Eyes drawn sharply to Tsunade's in a split second, Sasuke feels like he was slapped. _Is this how you want to play it?_ He works at controlling his grief, the barrier of cool lasting long enough to lock up the memory of the fiery Tayuya. His answer is still a little broken, despite it all, "Just a pretty no one."

Using the memory of the dead against a fifteen year old boy. Tsunade feels a cheap for it, but it should serve its goal. "Was she a lover, then? How did she die?"

Sasuke turns from Tsunade, facing the blank wall. His mind is bringing up images, thoughts, feelings and memories. He'll be damned if Tsunade gets information out of him through cruelty. Maybe she thinks it's the only thing he knows, but it's not. It's the only thing he knows how to fight. So he clenches his jaw and glares a hole through the wall, Sharingan reflexively activated in fury.

"Fuck you, Hokage-sama."

"You little brat, do you realise what I could do to you? I could have you locked up for the rest of your life, I could have you tortured. I hold your future in the palm of my hand so don't you test me." Tsunade's tone is threatening, but her posture is relaxed enough. She's testing how far the boy will go and doesn't intend in the least to follow up on any of those threats.

"And you'd do it?" Sasuke turns flashing eyes to hers. He derisively sneers, "How pathetic. You're not worthy of the Hokage title if you can't think around even the simplest obstacles... No fucking wonder Orochimaru thought so little of you."

Tsunade grinds her teeth at that. She remembers Orochimaru and his easy dismissal of her. It's a slap in the face, one that rivals the question about the redhead. A small smile graces Tsunade's lips at that. She's not going to lose to a boy of fifteen, no matter how smart he is. Her tone shifts from defiantly threatening to soothingly pleasant in a split second, "Uchiha Sasuke, one of my best scout teams was slaughtered. I will not let this crime go unpunished. You are our last and only true witness and you will give me an account of what happened." Her tone is still pleasant, but inevitably commanding. "I won't send more shinobi to their deaths without knowing about our opponent. That is all I ask of you for the time being."

With more majesty than Sasuke believed possible, the fifth Hokage stands and exits the room.

When she's closed the door and walked to Kakashi's kitchen, she sighs and growls to herself. She isn't supposed to let the boy get to her. She's supposed to test him and prod him and get to him. Not the other way around. At least she managed to walk away from that meeting with the upper hand, but that crack about Orochimaru...

Tsunade wonders if it was wise to purposefully provoke the boy's animosity. After all, she wants him to cooperate.

"How did it go?" Kakashi's voice is comfortingly cool and rational and it brings Tsunade out of her thoughts.

"He's a handful. Almost as much as that bratty fox." Through the talk, the boy has been slippery enough, reminescent of Orochimaru himself, but colder, less inclined to manipulation. Tsunade could see something she never saw in Orochimaru. She saw reluctance and anger and honor. The boy is hurt. But he can be healed.

Kakashi nods, trying not to smile. The Hokage is starting to see what Kakashi sees. She's starting to see Sasuke Uchiha in all his stubborn, defiant and blinded glory. "If I may offer my opinion, Hokage-sama..."

"Please do. You're the one who knows the most about him after all."

"I think the rest of Team Seven would be most apt at dealing with him. Maybe even get an actual report on what happened." Kakashi words that bit carefully, knowing the reluctance Tsunade will show the very notion.

As predicted, Tsunade stiffens. She's not sure she should expose her student and the boy that's like a little brother to her to the menace Sasuke has undoubtedly become. But on the other hand... the possible benefits are immense. She curtly nods, "I'll consider it."

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"So that was you. Kissing me."

A shamed nod of the head, "Yes."

"That was you, kicking me."

The head drops even lower, "Yes."

"To figure out whether you were gay."

This time Lee can't help the flush. "Yes."

Neji sighs and pats Lee's bowed head. He can't stay angry with him. Hell, anger doesn't suit a Hyuuga any way you look at it. Lee's a good friend who despite himself, Neji admires. Besides, Lee doesn't have a single malicious bone in his body. He was probably truly confused and offput and when help offered itself, was too much off-balance to refuse. So no, Neji isn't angry at Lee.

Naruto, however, has no such excuse. But Naruto isn't the one confessing with the fear to have ruined their friendship. No, Naruto isn't the one bowing his head apologetically and offering self-punishment. But he should be. He will be.

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Sasuke has stayed awake and a little stunned after the departure of the Hokage. He ponders his position and the chances of making it out of Konoha. He wonders if he even wants to leave. Little pieces of information are coming back and Sasuke just isn't sure what the best option is right now.

His eyes trace the sparse furniture around the room. It's undeniably Kakashi in every small thing. The chairs are too straight, the bed is too soft, the table richly furnished with all types of scrolls and books. Tasteful isn't in the man's vocabulary. The only real decorations around the room are the pictures (if you don't count the chain of kunai, swords and scrolls). There are two pinned beside the bed and Sasuke can't tear his eyes away from Team Seven, years earlier. Kakashi's lazy smile, Sakura's smitten look, Naruto's perpetually silly, angry look towards him. But what really surprises Sasuke the most is looking at himself. He sees his sideways glance at Naruto and the feeling there isn't quite anger, annoyance or fondness. It's almost content in its complexity.

"They miss you, you know?" The voice shouldn't have made him jump. Not after every goddamn time Orochimaru did it to him. But Sasuke nonetheless jerks away from his fascinated contemplation of years past and turns accusingly towards Kakashi.

"I never gave them anything to miss." Which should have been true but...

"That's a lie, Sasuke." Feeling unbearably naked in front of Kakashi's stare, Sasuke glares at him. His mouth is kept stubbornly shut and he tugs the covers up to his neck.

Kakashi smiles gently and takes the seat Tsunade just discarded. "Well, who cares after all, neh? Life goes on. With or without Uchiha Sasuke."

That last sentence really drives home the fear that's been eating up Sasuke ever since he recognized he was at Kakashi's home, back in Konoha. It's selfish and hurtful and probably cruel but Sasuke _wants_ his leaving to have meant something to someone. He wants someone to miss him, wants someone to be hurt and to want him back. He wants to matter to someone. Ever since he came back he's been deathly afraid of finding out that, to the people who despite everything still matter to him, he was nothing anymore. He was scared that they'd found a replacement and just forgot about him. Life goes on. With or without Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes are burning in an unfamiliar way and he can only growl at Kakashi, "Leave me alone, Kakashi. Just fucking let me be." He curls up on himself as much as his wound will allow and for some reason, Ren comes to mind. Eyelids fall shut with much more strength than necessary, as though by squeezing his eyes tight enough, Sasuke won't be able to remember his last words. He won't see Tayuya, he won't remember Orochimaru's smirking syringe, he won't see Itachi over his parent's bodies, he won't see the girl in the coffin and the children of Sound.

A gentle hand in his hair shocks him out of his memories and Sasuke flinches away. He looks up at Kakashi, eyes unknowingly damp, and murmurs, "Do you get off on kicking people when they're down? Or is it just for me?"

"I missed you, too." It's just the right amount of relief to break him. It's _just_ right.

Sasuke hides his head under the covers and mumbles hoarsely, "I hate you."

Kakashi lets his hand rest on top of the covers, just the indirect contact enough to let Sasuke know he's here.

Sasuke can feel its warmth through the blanket, settling into the middle of his back. He gives a shuddering sigh, then focuses on his breathing. In. Out. Slow. Careful. His heartbeat is next. One beat, another. Even. Calm. It takes a few minutes, but when Sasuke looks up, he's fully in control of himself.

"Can you get me a pen and paper, Kakashi?"

Kakashi removes his hand and walks out of the room, only to come back seconds later with both requested items and a glass of water. He ruffles Sasuke's hair, because he can, then grabs a book from under the mattress Sasuke is settled on, flipping the pages as he exits the room.

Sasuke is left with a sore heart, a sore mind and a messed up hairdo. If Kakashi didn't feel so much like himself, it'd be much easier to pretend he doesn't matter.

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In another part of town, silence is slowly killing Team Eight. Kiba is staring at his food without energy. Shino stands stoically beside him, watching closely. Hinata fidgets, feeling the tension climbing and climbing.

The bug user is worried. His silence is the overbearing type that makes people feel watched and monitered. Kiba hasn't said a word since he came back from that mission. He hasn't jumped on top of a table and he didn't try to race Shino to any sort of destination. Kiba isn't being Kiba and that's more than enough cause for worry. Hinata is no doubt angsting, wondering what she can do to make things better. Shino sighs (silently) and gives Kiba's shoulder a nudge.

The dog-lover barely grunts in reply.

This is odd. Kiba's boisterous voice isn't filling the void of silence left by the other two members with mocking blabber. His loud and brash proclaims that Shino just _touched_ him voluntarily aren't making the bug-user twitch in annoyance. This isn't just odd, it's wrong.

In his dark voice, Shino says, completely void of expression, "So two roaches munch on garbage in an alley. One says: 'I was in that new restaurant across the street. It's so clean. It's actually so sanitary the whole place shines.' 'Please,' the other roach says, 'Not while I'm eating'."

Kiba chokes on what he was pretending to eat and looks up at Shino with disbelief written all over him.

A stunned silence follows.

"Shino... Did you just crack a joke?"

A curt nod.

"Holy fuck that was bad!" And Kiba laughs, wholeheartedly and loud enough to forget he was silent for an entire day. Hinata joins him with a few shy giggles and even Shino smiles under his collar. Things might not be quite right, but they will be.

_tbc..._

_Some replies:_

_ShadowBright: Sweetheart, you take as much time as you need, I'll take what I can get, hee! (love)_

_XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: Lol! Here it is, here it is! Please don't spork me... Pretty please? (grin)_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N: This chapter was pivotal in deciding where the story would end up. It wasn't easy to write and I think it shows a bit in the pacing. It all needs reworking eventually, but I like it as is too so I'm inflicting it on you all! Bwahahahcoughchoke... Enjoy._

_Btw, am looking for someone who would be kind enough to go through it with me and nitpick the story. Send me a private message from my profile page if you're interested!  
_

_And on with the story!_

**The Sound of Pain: Chapter 5**

There's a ray of sunlight piercing steadily through the blinds of Kakashi's room. It hits Sasuke's right eye directly. He's tried to cover it up, cover himself up, shift his position and mentally will the blinds to move over, but there's nothing to be done. It keeps poking at him warily, hesitantly. Sasuke wants to growl at it, but he doesn't. Kakashi's in the next room and he'd hear. Besides, it's just sunlight. Sasuke hasn't turned into a vampire just because he spent three years underground. Sunlight can do nothing to him. It's powerless, stupid, empty.

Sasuke throws his pillow at the window in pointless frustration. The sunlight widdens, then turns back to that usual annoying ray with the movement of the blinds. He tries not to scowl at the light, because you can't _scowl_ at light. It's just silly.

Kakashi comes in the room to the unexpected sight of his former student attempting to glare the sun into submission. The image makes him smirk. He goes over to the window and unlatches the lock, opening it wide enough for the fresh air to come through. The blinds, of course, are tugged to the sides to reveal the full splendor of the sun. Kakashi wonders if Sasuke will start screaming and melting. It's perfectly silly, but Kakashi finds the thought amusing enough. He turns to the boy and announces, "I have to meet with the Hokage, be good." Kakashi is perfectly aware that he's probably never said more useless words.

When Kakashi's closed the door behind him, Sasuke shuts his eyes against the light and focuses all of his senses on following the too-faint trace of his former-teacher. When he's fairly sure he can't hear the man anymore, Sasuke counts ten minutes in his mind, each second precise and emphasised by the druming of a finger against the wooden bedside.

After those ten minutes have come and gone, Sasuke glances at the window. His left ankle is strapped to the bedside but it is the only visible restriction though. Either Kakashi trusts him or he wants Sasuke to have the possibility to escape, just to see whether he'll do it. Sasuke scowls at the binding and its meaning.

He can't simply bend over and untie himself, because his wound will reopen and bleed and _hurt_ like a bitch. So Sasuke focuses his eyes on the rope and brings his hands forward to form known seals. His rope escape jutsu is nearly perfect and Kakashi knows that. The rope falls uselessly to the hard wooden floor and Sasuke rolls a little to the side of the bed. He knows he's playing into Kakashi's hands. He's felt that same trapped feeling with Orochimaru far too often not to recognize someone's plan laying over his own. But it doesn't really matter at the moment, Sasuke needs to leave. He can't give the Hokage what she wants. He can't bargain information for a safe return. It isn't the Hokage or Konoha's duty to bring Tayuya's murderer to justice.

Sitting up is a very frustrating affair. His torn stomach muscles protest the very concept, so Sasuke has to twist his body so the weight of his legs falling to the floor tug the rest of his body upwards. It still takes a lot of energy and Sasuke still ends up grinding his teeth against the pain. But he's almost upright. It's just a little further to the window, really.

Stumbling forward, Sasuke's left hand latches onto the chair by his bedside and he pulls himself to his feet. His legs seem relatively uninjured so it's easier once he's actually standing and there's not as much strain on his stomach. His breathing is still labored with the effort and there's a cold sweat envelopping his body, but Sasuke is slowly convincing his body that it can attempt the walk over to the window and the slipping through to the outside world.

Painfully slow steps take Sasuke to the window, he's trembling all over and the worst is yet to come. He could use a jutsu, but he remembers that Kakashi's small appartment is in the middle of the city and at this time of the day, using chakra to escape Kakashi's house would be like yelling 'Uchiha hunt' as loud as he could. He also remembers that Kakashi lives on the last floor. And indeed, Sasuke looks out the window and that's a hell of a long way down.

He isn't about to be defeated by such odds. Sasuke opens the window as wide as it can go and carefully slides his upper body through the frame so he's sitting on the windowsill, looking up at the roof. The roof is much easier to reach than the floor. There's no rope to work with, so Sasuke focuses just enough chakra to his hands to be able to cling to the gutter climbing up the side of the building.

He takes a deep breath and slides his legs out the rest of the way. The tenseness needed for climbing makes his wound hurt in such a perverse way that Sasuke can barely focus on his hands, holding onto the metal gutter. He can't imagine moving from there until at least a little of the pain has subsided.

That's when he hears the sound. It's not the noise of something breaking, not the sound of a protesting gutter, no. This is more intricate than that. It's the twist and plop of a screw. Sasuke looks up in time to watch the second screw give under his weight and in that moment, all pain is forgotten. The metal is starting to give under his weight and Sasuke will be damned if he'll be killed by a gutter.

He puts both feet to the wall, gathering chakra enough to slide down the building. When he's just a few feet from the floor, Sasuke forgets he was even wounded and he gracefully jumps down. His landing would have been perfect if not for two things. The first is the return of pain's vicious edge gripping at his stomach. The second is an innocent bystander who happened to be on his way to Kakashi's. Sasuke's landing would have been perfect if that man hadn't been standing right below him. Sasuke's landing would have been perfect if pain hadn't caused him to black out for those few critical seconds where he could choose where to land.

There's a loud crash and Sasuke can't see for a few moments, the sound of rushing blood deafening and blinding at once. He can't feel his way around up and down, painful and nice, hard and soft. The pain isn't coming from just his stomach now, it's every part of his body sending him distress signals. Sasuke shudders with it and he can feel the edge of consciousness threatening to leave him. He stubbornly clings to it and opens his eyes to the blinding light of the sun.

He takes stock of things methodically as possible. If the sun is up and he's looking straight at it, then he isn't standing. And if he's not standing, and he's not lying on hard ground, then something is softening it for him. If he can't feel his stomach, it means it's probably worsened. Blinking stupidly at the sunlight, Sasuke's eyes shift around to find out about the rest of his surroundings.

His eyes land on a curled fist. The fingers are long and thin, but somehow ungracious. They're closed in a tight grip and it's the only thing in Sasuke's field of vision. Whoever belongs to that fist is somewhere below him. Another realization is that whatever secrecy he might've hoped for is long gone. The chakra presence of several people approaching is slowly jolting the edge of Sasuke's senses.

Just great.

He can't move because his body is too weary, he can't hide because he's sitting on someone and he can't disappear because his presence has already been detected. _Come on, genius. Think it through and fast._

The answer comes to him with recognition of the voice that belongs to that curled fist "Troublesome," and the beginning of movement in the body below him.

Shikamaru.

_Weakness... weakness..._

Before Shikamaru rids himself of Sasuke's weight on top of him, Sasuke has already formed the seals. There's a crowd of people coming closer to the felled couple but when they get there, they don't see a wounded Uchiha and a disgruntled Nara.

What they see is Yamanaka Ino sitting in Nara Shikamaru's lap.

"What the hell?" Shikamaru's displeased exclamation silences the start of gossiping voices and Sasuke curses as all the attention turns back to them. He's not sure how effective the henge is seeing as he's not caught a glimpse of Ino for three years, and fuck but his stomach feels like it's on fire. He can't think properly. He needs to get out of the public eye and he needs to go _now_.

Sasuke clenches his jaw in anger, annoyance and pain and he wraps both arms around Shikamaru the same way Ino's done to him so goddamn often. He presses her lips to Shikamaru's cheek, then bats her eyelashes at him. "Shika, get me out of here." The tone is high and directive, a perfect replica of Ino's. It's the last thing Sasuke can do because the pain is trying to push past his focus and he's going to scream with it if he has to do any more.

And Sasuke was so right to pick Ino as Shikamaru's weakness. The boy is looking at her pleading eyes and even though he _knows_ this isn't Ino, he can't resist the demand, can't help helping her. With a sigh of exasperation, Shikamaru gathers up the body of the girl in his arms and jumps onto the nearest roof, easily getting them out of the crowd and to a deserted alley.

As soon as he's sure they won't be caught, he sits down the girl and sets sharp, intelligent eyes on her. He knows he can't see through the henge, but whatever small facts he can get off her will be hint enough. He isn't sure if this is a prank or something serious that requires the intervention of the Hokage. It's why he let himself take this girl (Ino) to a secluded area. He figures that the quickest way to end this bothersome business is to just ask, "Who are you?"

After being bent and carried, Sasuke feels like his stomach is eating itself from the inside out. His breathing is fast but the barest hint of control lets him keep his expression unfeeling and cool. His thoughts are starting to run together and everything feels like a trap. There's nothing he can tell Shikamaru because the boy is too damn smart and he'll know. Sasuke closes Ino's eyes and wraps a hand around his middle, over the wound in a senseless gesture of protection, trying to will the pain away.

Shikamaru watches Sasuke closely, as if by looking intensely enough, or thinking of enough possibilities, he can see through the jutsu. When the boy sees Ino's eyes shut and her hand rest over her stomach though, he feels a clench of sympathy and the unmistakable need to soothe her pain. _This is not Ino_. He repeats that sentence in his head over and over again.

He bends and pulls away Sasuke's hand from his stomach, peering at the wound.

_Nasty._ _Definitely serious business._

Crouching as he is, Shikamaru can see the imperfections in the henge, the way Ino's mouth is a little too small, her eyes a little too wide. This form comes from someone who has only seen Ino from a ways, or someone very bad at henge. Why this person would feel the need to remain hidden is another story entirely. Is she hiding from Konoha or from someone else? The nuance matters little. Shikamaru will still have to bring her in, if only to treat the wound. The Hokage can decide whether she's a spy or not.

Mind made up, Shikamaru forms a seal, ready to send the girl into unconsciousness.

Sasuke opens his eyes at that precise moment and something inside him stiffens at the thought of being caught. Some last resort of will hardens against the pain because Uchiha Sasuke does not _lose_, period. His Sharingan activates and Sasuke knows what seals Shikamaru is going to use. He mimicks them quickly, then uses the speed which is always his best trait to devance the technique. In the end, surprise is what causes Shikamaru to slump against the rocky alley wall before he completes the last seal.

_This is stupid._ Sasuke staggers to his feet. He only just realises that he has the ability to push his body past its already reach limits, which means he was definitely not thinking clearly. Focusing inwards, Sasuke unlocks the first gate, sighing contentedly as the rush of energy flows through him. His thoughts seem sharper instantly, his wound a mere annoyance. He frowns to himself at the mess on his hands. First of all, he needs a better henge if he's going to be parading around Konoha. Second, he needs to get treatment and a place to stay. He can't go to the Uchiha compound because they'll expect him there. He can't go back to Kakashi's place because the Hokage will extract the information out of him one way or another and that can't happen.

The energy released through the gates will only last so long. There is no one in Konoha who will agree to treat him without telling the Hokage. There is no place he can hide without being found out if the Hokage were to let his presence be known. Sasuke needs a fucking plan.

He shuts his eyes and methodically sifts through the most important musts.

_Have to heal, have to kill Itachi, can't talk to the Hokage. _

Hide, heal and escape.

Where would he have access to medical supplies without being found out?

It takes a few minutes of silent thinking but Sasuke finally finds his answer. He knows where he can stay and grieve, stay and heal.

Shifting the henge to take Shikamaru's form, Sasuke heads north towards the Hokage statues. This time he's not shy about using the streets.

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_There's the feeling of being unable to move, trapped in his own body. He can see, smell, hear and feel everything with frightening accuracy, but he can't respond to it. He can't act, move or even blink. Orochimaru is above him, Sasuke can see his slitted yellow eyes narrowed, he can see everything in so much detail it's almost too much to keep track of. There's a parcel of black forming the pupil, speckled out over the yellow in the center. The purple tears drawn from the snake's brows and down the side of his nose emphasise the pale, sickly perfect skin. That too large mouth is forming a smirk and Sasuke can see where Orochimaru's teeth have bit in the bottom lip. He'd never have figured Orochimaru a lip biter. The snake is speaking, the feminine tilt to his words a travesty worst than ever. Sasuke can hear the words around him. He doesn't quite understand them but he can see them. Kanji floating around him, choking him. The fear is undeniable. _

_When the cold hand closes on Sasuke's neck, he would've screamed. That touch is forbidden, it's intense enough to be painful. It feels like his body was heated up to an unbearable degree and then his shoulder dipped in ice water. The fingers trail pain down his throat, collarbone and shoulder. A very distant, dormant part of Sasuke realises that he's being undressed. But it's a warning shout in the midst of a battle of so bright and loud feelings that it gets lost. On his stomach, Sasuke can feel nails. They trace the expanse of flesh from the center of his stomach and to his sides. The fingers burn cold on his hips. He can't push away those hands. Can't move enough to scream._

Panting, Sasuke's eyes snap open. There's a scream on his lips just begging to come out. He can feel fingers on him. He can _remember_ fingers on him. Swallowing with difficulty, Sasuke looks around himself. He expects to see the white of Kabuto's labs, or the bark of a tree where he's decided it was safe enough to rest. Instead, the first thing he eyes focus on is pink material. It's a dress, well made, soft and classy. In Sasuke's present mindset, he's in the mood to set it on fire. It doesn't have the right to be so soft, beautiful and comforting. Not now.

Grunting a little, Sasuke raises up on his elbows from his position on the floor. There's a large miror by him and a cluster of books on the other side. Sasuke's eyes focus on the scrolls all around him. The camouflage jutsu still holds. With a satisfied nod, Sasuke grits his teeth against the pain and extends his senses to the rooms below him. He can feel the presence of a woman in what he has already established as the kitchen. It's the only person in the house for the moment, so Sasuke decides that now is the best time to attempt his first excursion for medical supplies.

He turns over and climbs to his knees, every movement silent, deliberate and graceful despite the boy's wounded state. Sasuke stands and walks to the trap in the floor. He's in the attic of an ordinary house with an ordinary housewive cooking dinner. He pulls open the trap and slips through to the small opening to land silently on his feet on the carpeted wooden floor. He keeps track of the woman doing her business, careful not to give her any hints of his presence. But the task is too easy to take up much attention. Who expects a missing-shinobi in their house, really? All Sasuke has to do is be careful not to leave any trace of his passage. And really, isn't that what being a shinobi is all about?

It's perfectly natural for Sasuke to walk only on the tip of his feet and to give each step a twist to raise back the hairs on the carpet. It's just as natural to keep his breathing silent through the pain and not touch anything he doesn't need to. Sasuke's chakra is kept hidden and low and he's so perfectly mixing with the air around him that he doesn't hesitate a second when he steps inside the kitchen. He keeps himself in the woman's blind spots even as she reaches in the fridge for milk to add to her baking. When she does a full turn to reach for the sugar, Sasuke jumps to the ceiling and crawls from there to the exit. The woman pours the last two cups of flour in the mix and stirs it, then puts the whole thing to bake. Her husband will be home soon.

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When Shikamaru wakes up, he grunts and gathers himself up on a crouch, then brings all of his fingers to touch the edge of their twin. He saw the Sharingan, he's sure of it. There are three people in the entire world to have the Sharingan and no more. That restrains the possibilities quite a bit. There were two red orbs staring at him, so definitely not Kakashi, and he's still alive, so that wasn't Uchiha Itachi.

Shikamaru wonders, as he opens his eyes, if he should count himself fortunate to be alive. He wonders if Sasuke has become dangerous enough that he should've feared for his life. He's fairly sure that's the case, judging by the speed with which his technique was read and duplicated. Shikamaru immediately resolves that any fight between himself and the Uchiha would result in his loss.

Sighing to himself at all the trouble on his hands, the lazy shadow-nin climbs to his feet and heads to the Hokage tower. On his way there, he glimpses Naruto and Sakura at Ichiraku's and another sigh escapes him. "Troublesome, so troublesome."

When he starts on the steps to the Hokage rooms, he can tell by the echoe of shrill screams that said Hokage is not in a good mood. At the doors to the audience room is Hyuuga Hinata, Hyuuga Neji and Inuzuka Kiba, the last of which looks fairly terrible. Shikamaru distantly heard of the other boy's deceased team and as he settles in to wait for Tsunade to be done yelling at whoever is in there, he feels he should offer some sympathetic words. He doesn't, though.

Hinata is being as much of a mother hen as humanly possible without taking the boy inside an inner pouch of protection. Neji looks cold and distant as ever, but his eyes seem less harsh when they land on either Kiba or Hinata. Could there be something there? Shikamaru frowns and lets out another sigh, then waves a greeting at the Hyuuga prodigy. His answer is a curt nod and a questioning glance. Settling himself beside Neji, Shikamaru answers the unspoken question, "I've no idea why you were called here." Though he could guess and he'd be right.

It's only a few minutes later that the doors open and an impassible Kakashi comes out. He takes in the assembled nins and shakes his head. His one eye narrows on Shikamaru and the Nara figures that means he should somehow explain why he's here. "I have an urgent report for the Hokage. It concerns a missing-nin."

That should be clear enough without being obvious enough. Kakashi smiles, his one eye closing in that innocently lazy expression, "Ah yes, come in, come in."

Kakashi is prompty out of the room, closing the door behind him. That feels suspiciously like a set-up. Turning to the Hokage, Shikamaru can see that indeed, Kakashi just set him up. Tsunade looks positively pissed off and ready to tear a new one to whoever speaks a wrong word to her. She's scary as hell. Shikamaru isn't sure he wants to tell her another bad news, but it's not like he has a choice.

_Troublesome._

"Hokage-sama."

"Shikamaru, what's going on?"

"I encountered Sasuke Uchiha a little over..." Shikamaru looks at the clock behind the Hokage and frowns, "Six hours ago." That's too damn long.

Tsunade growls a little at the mention of that name. That bothersome boy. "Where?"

"Below Kakashi's appartment. He was wounded, but managed to henge into Ino. I took him from the scene to investigate in private but he took advantage of that to knock me out."

After hearing that report, Tsunade's mood grows frighteningly somber. Not only did the boy escape Kakashi's house while he was over here at her demand, but he managed to do so while critically injured and he knocked out even Shikamaru. Tsunade has just enough good mood left to still be amused at the concise, typically Nara report she's just been given.

"Well then, it looks like you've just added yourself to the mission."

The boy's expression says it all. _More work? Damn._

The Hokage stands and opens the door to beckon in Kiba, Hinata and Neji. Shikamaru can't quite believe his bad luck when he glimpses Naruto and Sakura joining the others and before he can help himself, another sigh escapes him.

_Troublesome._

All the nins file up in the Hokage's office and Tsunade regains her seat on the other side of the desk. Kiba looks like he knows what's going to happen and that makes Shikamaru frown in thought. Did Sasuke have anything to do with the death of Kiba's team?

Neji Hyuuga is standing just a little in front of Hinata, consciously in the best position to protect her should anything happen. The girl is flanked by Kiba on the other side, she still looks worried and is fidgetting with her fingers.

Naruto is in front of everyone, so close to the Hokage desk he could be sitting on it. He's trying to peer at the mission scrolls, practically oozing nervous energy. It makes Shikamaru tired just looking at him. In comparison, Sakura is standing near the back of the group, hands folded over one another, patiently awaiting the orders. But no matter who Shikamaru looks at, he feels curiosity.

Well. They'll be satisfied at least.

The Hokage seems to be gathering herself and all the information around her. Her voice soon echoes across the walls and everyone is riveted, full attention on her.

"You were all summoned here today for a special mission. It is of the most secretive nature and I will not have any of you claiming to have ever participated in it after it's done with." Her eyes are sharply set on Naruto as she says that. His eyes have gone wide at the thought of finally being trusted with such a special, secret mission all on his own. He has completely forgotten that five other nins are to be accompanying him on the mission.

Shikamaru resists the urge to roll his eyes. Too much energy lost in an obvious motion.

"As you all have heard, the scouting team that was sent to Lightning Country to establish new trade routes has been decimated by an unknown agent. Kiba made it back alive, but he also brought back a very important witness." Tsunade sighs, gathering the courage to say the words to both Sakura and Naruto.

Shkamaru, on his part, gives himself brownie points for being right about Kiba's team. The rest of the nins gathered seem surprised at that, all glancing at Kiba to see if he'll spill before the Hokage. There's sympathy in all of the gazes though.

"The person Kiba brought is a ninja from Konoha."

Sakura sets suddenly sharp eyes on Tsunade when she hears that part. Naruto just loudly exclaims in surprise, "What? A ninja from Konoha?"

"The nin was gravely injured and I only barely saved his life when he was brought here. He is the only one who knows anything about the murder of our scouting team..." There's a pause where everyone seems to wait on baited breath, then Tsunade continues, "Also, this ninja has crucial information on Orochimaru. He may even hold the key to defeating him."

It's already dawned on every ninja in the room just who the Hokage is talking about. Naruto has gone frighteningly still, frozen on an exclamation and Sakura's mouth has dropped, her eyes gleaming with unwanted tears.

The Hyuugas are just staring at the Hokage in disbelief. Although what passes for disbelief in Neji's case is a mere widening of white eyes.

Shikamaru sighs, telling himself he never wants to be Hokage.

"He is Uchiha Sasuke."

The blond boy and pink-haired kunoichi aren't reacting quite yet, for which Tsunade is thankful. It lets her finish the explanation before the outburst. "He was taken to Kakashi's house to heal. About six hours ago, Sasuke escaped Kakashi's appartment despite his wounds and met with Shikamaru. He hasn't left Konoha; he can't travel in his present condition. Your mission is to find him and bring him back alive to be interrogated."

After Tsunade speaks that last, she counts to three, expecting the usual loud outburst from Naruto. At the lack of it, she looks at the boy, only to find his fists and jaw clenched, his eyes intense, brimming blue shining with more determination than she's ever seen on him, which is quite something. She looks from him to Sakura, and the girl has wrapped her arms around herself, two lone tears running down her cheeks.

Naruto's voice is a growl when he speaks, "I'll find the bastard. I'll find him and..." His tone breaks a little there, something like grief and relief choking him, "I'll find him and bring him back. I swear it."

Tsunade shakes her head and adds, "Keep in mind, as you search, that the boy has been in constant contact with Orochimaru for at least three years. Do not underestimate him. You were each selected for your unique abilities. Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata will be able to search through Konoha's walls. Shikamaru can figure out each possibility of where he might've gone. Kiba and Akamaru can smell him out and Naruto, you and Sakura know him best. You will split in two teams and locate him. Your teams are as follows and there will be no discussing them, understood?"

Tsunade is answered by a nod from every person in the group except for Sakura and Naruto who are looking like they'll fight any arrangement other than them being together to look for Sasuke.

"Hinata, Naruto and Kiba. Shikamaru, Neji and Sakura. You will all start from Kakashi's appartment."

There's a split second and Naruto's opening his mouth to protest being seperated from Sakura. Tsunade clamps her hand over his mouth and locks eyes with him, "And if the other team finds him? What if neither you or Sakura are there when you find him?"

That shuts him right up and he lowers his gaze with a nod.

"Dismissed."

_tbc..._

_Some replies: _

_RetaroO: You know what gave me a giggle? I started reading your reply and was interrupted by my cat right after 'I love how you make me feel' So I felt all smug for a second for completely unrelated reasons. (smirk) Really, I'm happy you're enjoying it! Shino's joke cracked me up too. I was trying to think of something to do with insects and googled it quickly. Shino making a joke. It's like Lee kissing Neji. I loved writing those bits! About time for some laughter after the constant dark of The Sound of Fear, heh? About Kakasasu, (points up) Not in this chapter, and probably not in this story... but trust me, the pairing has got a good hold on me so I doubt I'll be able to hold down the muses long. You can prolly expect a Kakasasu story out of me soon enough. (snerk) Or a Sasukaka (as funny as that seems, I've been wanting to pull it off for some time. Heh. I love Sasuke on top. Obviously._

_XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: Lol! (love) The powers that be made you goddess off all creepy and inhuman things! Where be fairness? Don't do inhuman things to me or I shall... erm... I shall... look too cute and cuddly for you to go on? (funny fact, am listening to 'Maneater' right now. That amuses me.)_


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: And I have finally caught up to whatever advance I had on writing this fic. From now on, the updates will be a little slower coming. Also have finally passed the fic through spellcheck (which did it good because my first language is French and I hate it when it shows). Am revising TSoF as well, a couple of things bothered me about it and I wanted to clean it up. My muses fought me tooth and nail for this chapter. -glares at Kiba especially- Kiba!Muse: Hmph. You put me through hell and force me to grow up and I should be nice to you? -under his breath- you witch._

_I love Hinata. I'd marry the girl. (except for the female/female thing, it'd work great) hehehe, enjoy! Oh and do leave a review so that I know people are reading, hmm? Gets lonesome writing for oneself._

**The Sound of Pain: Chapter 6**

The walk to Kakashi's place is oddly silent and awkward. Everyone is threading on eggshells around everyone. No one wants to ask Kiba about his team and the details of that mission, no one wants to ask Naruto and Sakura how they feel about the present situation, no one wants to ask Shikamaru what Sasuke did to get away from him, no one wants to ask Neji what he thinks about the whole mess. Hinata is drowning in the awkward feelings of others. She aches to comfort Naruto, but doesn't want Kiba to be left alone either. She wants to offer some kind words to Sakura but she can't be the one to break this so thick and ominous silence. It would kill her.

She squeezes Kiba's arm reassuringly and bites at her bottom lip, eyes following Naruto's determined walk. She's been watching him for so long, she's not fooled. The boy is in turmoil. Hinata can see him struggling between anger, sadness and fear. She thinks Naruto fears for himself, he fears being wounded as much as he wants to find Sasuke and make things right. He fears for Sakura and he fears most of all for Sasuke. Hinata would fear for Shino, if it happened to him. She would fear that he wouldn't be the same, that he wouldn't care anymore, that he would be damaged and hurt. That all of his pain couldn't be healed.

Hinata can guess at how confused Naruto is. She wants to offer him a hug and reassure him that whatever comes, he'll come out on top.

She has never been taken with Uchiha Sasuke. Hinata has never really liked him because she's never gotten to know him. He just seemed so intimidating and removed. Much worse than Neji ever was. She feels sad for the boy. She wonders if it would have changed anything, had she befriended him. She wonders if anyone could have helped him if they hadn't idolized him instead of liking him. Hinata feels sympathy for Uchiha Sasuke that she thinks is cheap, because it's too little too late.

What horrible things happened to him in Sound? What terrible torment did he suffer after his family died? Hinata was never concerned with that before. And she only is now because she can tell that Naruto is. Hinata lowers her head, ashamed of herself. She doesn't feel worthy of being out with her idol to look for his lost teammate. She doesn't think she'll be any help, because she won't do anything for Uchiha Sasuke, she'll do it for Uzumaki Naruto's happiness.

Kiba nudges her side and Hinata forces a little smile to her lips. She can see how determined Kiba is and it scares her a little. Kiba won't let his team go unavenged, just like Sasuke wouldn't let his family go unavenged. The little ball of anxiety grows larger still but the girl wonders if she can do for Kiba what she never did for Sasuke.

Hinata whispers for Kiba's sensitive ears only, "I'm with you, Kiba-kun. I'll take care of you, so don't be sad." It's a lot to own up to, but for Kiba, Hinata knows she can do it. He's hers to protect, like her little brother.

That thought gives her another pang of sympathy, thinking of Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke. She's soon distracted as she feels two arms close around her in a bear hug. There's a whisper in her ear, "Thank you, Hinata."

The others stop and stare at them when Kiba embraces Hinata out of the blue. The girl blushes bright crimson.

Uncharacteristically, Neji is the one to break the moment with a softly spoken, "If you expect to win over my cousin, Inuzuka, you should at least court her for a year or two."

Kiba laughs, yes, he outright laughs, "I'll... uh... keep that in mind!"

Sakura takes that chance to step closer to Naruto. They've reached the apartment and that means, to Sakura, separating from the only person who really understands what Sasuke means, how conflicted and hurt and important he really is, deep down. Sakura swallows and gathers her courage. She'll be with Neji and Shikamaru, which is similar to being between two blocks of ice. The Hokage had no right to tear apart Team Seven more than it's already been. Sakura quickly calms her anger and takes it upon herself to break the silence, "Well, this is it..."

She can feel Naruto's warm presence near her and she smiles. Everything seems easier when Naruto's warmth is close. "Let's find that Uchiha. Kiba, you and your team can trace the scent from here. Me and my team will be searching the Uchiha compound and we'll cover all the places that give access to medical supplies."

Kiba gives her a more enthusiastic salute than Sakura has seen him do since he came back from that mission. Whatever Hinata did, it's working. Neji and Shikamaru both nod at her, acknowledging her to lead this mission implicitly.

Naruto replies with a so-fake smile, "I love when you get bossy, Sakura-chan! Let's get going guys!"

Akamaru, now too big to ride on top of Kiba's head, trudges up to spot where Sasuke landed and sniffs around. Sakura, Neji and Shikamaru jump up on the roofs, heading to the Uchiha clan sector.

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When Sakura gets to the fence separating the Uchiha precinct from the rest of Konoha, she pauses, standing on one of those pillars that make the area unaccessible. She feels melancholy and the briefest hint of fear. Dropping to the ground floor, Sakura walks down the main street, closely followed by Neji and Shikamaru. She shudders at the feeling that lingers around this place. The dark houses look imposing and Sakura is reminded of those ghost town stories that her parents told her before bed to discourage her from going out alone at night. She thinks she can feel the spirits around this place, angry, sad and intensely protective of their past glory.

She tells herself it's her imagination when she sees a black-haired woman wave her over from the stand of a deserted sushi shop. The woman's smile is large and content. Sakura can see her teeth, sharp and animalistic. She swallows and continues down the street. Just a little way further, she stops a few inches short of stepping onto a black-haired boy with large black eyes lying in the middle of the street. He points an accusing finger at her as if it's her fault that he's dead. Sakura bites through her lip, drawing blood and pain enough so that the little boy fades. Neji is by her side and she feels his presence close. "Did you see that?" She asks quietly.

Neji quietly shakes his head and answers, "I did not. But I can feel the past all around me."

Swallowing, Sakura shuts her eyes. It's impossible for spirits to linger this long around a place, isn't it? She suddenly wishes that she'd actually listened to some of those alleged reports of ghosts. When Sakura next opens her eyes, she takes the lead again in a determined stride. She _will_ find Sasuke. And she will show him a way through the pain and the ghosts and he will be happy.

As they wander deeper in the streets, Sakura notices the Uchiha symbols on the streets, leading her further down the path, like breadcrumbs to the witch's lair. Without even realizing it, she draws closer to Shikamaru and his coldly analytic perception, hoping some of it will rub off and crush her paranoid feelings.

When she sees the large, imposing mansion, she immediately knows she doesn't want to go inside. "That's Sasuke's house, isn't it?" She asks the question uselessly. She can see the stern man sitting in the reclining chair by the entrance door. She can see how much he and Itachi look alike. Sakura can see the graceful woman resting her hand on his shoulder. She observes the soft features and she knows. Sasuke looks like his mother. He has none of the harshness present in both Itachi and his father. Sasuke is as beautiful and graceful as his mother.

"Yes, it is." Neji's cold voice makes the images shift and fade, revealing the feeling of utter loneliness and pain about the unused steps, the half-open door. The Hyuuga prodigy remembers the Uchiha precinct very well. The Uchiha were always known as the most powerful clan of Konoha. Neji remembers aspiring that greatness for the Hyuugas. He remembers visiting this house, seeing the small boy that Sasuke was with his too-kind eyes and too-beautiful face. Neji remembers being introduced to the older brother. He remembers the coldness. He remembers the father, stern but righteous, the mother, so soft and gentle...

Sakura watches Neji quietly for a few seconds. Around the time the Uchihas still lived, she'd only glimpsed Sasuke in class. She shakes her head clear of the memories and is about to ask Neji to use his byakugan to scan the area, but Shikamaru interrupts her. "Who let him keep this?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura is surprised at the Nara. She's surprised that he's the one to voice this opinion.

"Who let an eight year old boy keep alive the ghosts of his clan for so long? Who let him stay here? What did they think would happen?" Shikamaru doesn't look angry or outraged as Sakura thinks he should be. He just looks puzzled.

She answers what she always told herself, "They couldn't stop him. It was his birthright to claim the estate. Out of respect to the clan..."

Neji raises a brow at that. He knows damn well about respect to the clan. "As the only remaining heir, he had the right to demand it, no matter his age."

Sakura sighs under her breath as she walks closer to the rocking chair by the door. She runs a hand along the back of it. "Can you imagine it? Every day seeing the people you care about dying? And when you realize they're already dead, you're all alone." Sakura frowns at how stupid she must've seemed to Sasuke. He'd lived through all this tragedy and she'd always thought she could save him with sweets and false smiles.

She feels cheap for never coming here before. She feels as though she should have faced this before if she claimed to love Sasuke.

Neji answers her questions directly, "It is self-inflicted torment, Haruno-san. The Uchiha is responsible for his own fate. Do not blame his actions on other factors." The Hyuuga genius feels removed from the entire conflict of Sasuke's past and future. He greatly respects the Uchiha clan and as its last remaining member, Sasuke is someone who Neji instinctively grants regard to. But he doesn't _like_ the boy for all that.

Shaking herself, Sakura asks the Hyuuga, "Can you scan the place?"

With a curt nod, Neji activates his byakugan and focuses his attention on the streets surrounding the main Uchiha house.

The veins at the side of his eyes are pulsing as he finds a gathering of chakra. "There's a shield of chakra masking my perception in the basement of the third building to the left. He might be in there, I can't see past that room."

"Okay then, let's go."

This time, Neji walks ahead, showing them to the towering building. It's tastefully decorated and imposing. From the bricks and rocks upholding its foundation, it's also very old. The doors are large and ornaments of the Uchiha clan adorn every inch. It looks very solemn and ritualistic.

"It's a clan temple." Neji is observing the carvings on the doors, the old scrolls floating to the wind at the entrance like so many flags. He feels a strange sense of forbidden as he pushes open the door. Something tells him he'll be desecrating an area where no one is allowed if he steps inside. The traditional symbols that greet him inside the first room tell him he's right.

It's their mission, but it's wrong. Neji doesn't want to be stepping over the secrets of the Uchiha clan, just like he would kill anyone who would do the same to the Hyuuga.

Shikamaru has no such concerns. He walks inside the temple and looks around himself to the austere decoration, the sparse furnishing. Everything is cold and remote. "You said the basement, right?"

Neji's byakugan activates and he spots the chakra lacing the wood at the far end of the large room. "It's over there." He still refuses to walk in.

Sakura hesitantly steps by him and goes to the indicated spot. She doesn't see anything, not even a trace of where the trap might be. Frowning, she crouches and runs her hand over the wooden floor. "There's nothing here, Neji." As much as her eyes can see anyway.

The Hyuuga finally convinces himself to step inside. He gives a quick bow to the Uchiha symbol in respect and regret and walks to the girl now kneeling on the floor. His eyes trace the chakra patterns attentively. "It's a genjutsu. The trap is here." Neji crouches by Sakura and feels the wood. The genjutsu is flawless. Everything he touches feels smooth and straight, looks whole and unmarked. If his byakugan wasn't showing him the chakra pattern in the floor, he would have missed it.

Focusing chakra to the edge of his index and major, Neji strikes a blow to the wooden floor. It hits the center-point focus of chakra and a second later, the small crack in the floor can be seen. "Here." Shikamaru bends by one side and Neji grabs his. Their combined efforts pull open the heavy trap door in the floor. When they're fairly sure it can hold on its own, both boys go back to stand by Sakura, staring at the deep hole in the floor.

"Could Sasuke really have come here? He was injured, remember?" Sakura can't quite keep the worried note out of her tone.

Shikamaru shakes his head, "There's probably an easier way to open it. Sasuke would know. Neji, can you scan ahead?"

Because the Hyuuga is really their best and only asset in this situation. The Uchiha clan have no doubt protected their secrets and only another bloodline has even a chance of finding a weakness.

The Hyuuga genius lightly jumps down the trap, landing flawlessly. His eyes scan the chakra around him and he can see a long corridor at the end of which is an imposing door. That's where the chakra focuses. That's exactly what's preventing Neji from scanning past it. There are small holes on the side of the walls that are pulsing chakra. The obvious traps. "You can come down."

Two thumps answer his comment and just as Sakura is about to walk past him, Neji holds his hand up to stop her. "There are many traps here." He reaches for a kunai in his pouch and throws it across the hall. It doesn't make the five feet mark. Out of the walls, half a dozen fiery projectiles strike it down. The Kunai drops to the floor and the fire disappears as if it was never there.

Shikamaru frowns in thought, "Could we avoid them?"

Neji shakes his head in the negative, "The position of the traps in the walls shifts minutely with every second. I can't predict where they'll be. There's too many of them." Enough of them to use a Hyuuga's only blind spot.

"Troublesome..."

Sakura frowns as well and she asks, "A person with the Sharingan would know where to expect the shifts, right?"

Nodding, Neji adds, "They would also be able to memorize the complex movements of the traps and anticipate the pattern. It would be dangerless to a sharingan-user."

Shikamaru raises a brow at that, "It would be dangerless to a healthy sharingan-user. Sasuke was gravely injured. There's no point in seeing the pattern if your body can't keep up."

"So you don't think he came here, Shikamaru?" Sakura asks as she studies the door at the end of the corridor from afar.

"It doesn't really matter, Sakura. We can't go through this hall without grevious injury. Those walls aren't the only threat, you can be sure of that."

"B... But he might be in there. He might be needing our help."

"Sakura, when I saw him, he could hardly move, much less jump around avoiding traps that use the Sharingan as well. He did not come here. He couldn't have."

Neji interrupts them, "We should still report this possibility to the Hokage. We were instructed not to underestimate him after all."

Both others nod in agreement, but Sakura voices another concern, "This place feels angry... Maybe I'm being superstitious but I don't want to be violating some place sacred."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Neji jumps out of the hole. He's glad Sakura said it, because his pride would never have let him voice the opinion.

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By the time Sasuke gets back to his hideout, he's seeing spots rhythmically pounding with the blood rushing through his body. His head aches with it and his fingers feel too large for their size of skin-wear. He can't remember the name of that symptom, but he knows that he knows it. The husband got home as well, so Sasuke had to do just a little more of crawling on the ceiling to not be spotted.

When Sasuke closes back the trap and steps inside the circle protected by the camouflage jutsu, he just crumbles to the floor and heavily thanks Tsunade for her healing talents. No way in hell would he have been able to do the same trip if Kabuto had been the one to heal him. For that second he thinks of Kabuto's name, Sasuke feels a flash of apprehension, the need to flee so strong it chokes him for a few moments. He remembers the white of the man's labs, the way blood never stained anything it should have.

Removing the (stolen) cloth covering his chest, Sasuke looks down at his wound. His fingers fist on the dark shirt and Sasuke can see the strain forcing a small shake in his hand. It's not pain that tightens his hold on the shirt, it's not pain that brings Sasuke's teeth together in a harsh grind. It's anger, pure fury as he recalls the blade and the man attached to it.

_Still and ever not strong enough, little Sasuke. Just watch her die, you can't do any more than commemorate the dead after all._

There's a hitch of Sasuke's shoulders and his eyes are shut tight. It's the only physical signs of the turmoil he's living. Pain is gripping his stomach more firmly, but it's nothing compared to the anguish of his heart.

_Don't give in, don't believe him, it's a lie. You can do it. Closer every time until he dies._

Feeding himself such thoughts, Sasuke slowly overwhelms the influence of his brother's whispering. When he feels stable enough, he picks up the alcohol and bandages. He also (thankfully) thought to bring both an analgesic cream and some painkillers that won't fuck with his brain.

Painkillers are quickly swallowed dry and Sasuke gives himself fifteen minutes to metabolize them. His index finger taps the air with the seconds. After those minutes, Sasuke feels marginally better. Everything's duller, the lights, the wood, the pain... Sasuke brings the shirt to his mouth and bites into the cloth to avoid his tongue when his teeth clamp down with the pain that's inevitably coming back.

Sasuke pours some alcohol on the soft, pretty pink dress and uses it to swipe his stomach clean of blood. The stitches holding the wound closed are perfectly even and professional, so Sasuke is careful not to damage them. He's sweating halfway through the process, trembling when he's done. The pain itches all over his body, like a thousand needles. It's especially centered around his shoulders and back, but Sasuke's focus is on trying to clear his darkening vision. The edges are turning black with spots that bring far too much promise of comfort. With a growl, Sasuke blinks them away and despite his balance being so heavily compromised by the lightheaded feel, he manages to finish wrapping up, the numbing cream applied to the edges of the wound, then the entire thing covered with bandages.

After that, Sasuke stuffs the dress over him, using it like a blanket as he settles into a barely conscious state of rest.

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Akamaru's nose is stuck to the ground, attempting to follow the unique smell of the human known as Uchiha Sasuke. The dog has a harder time than usual tracking it. Kiba can sense the trouble his companion is having and he frowns, smelling the air for Sasuke's scent. It's true that the smell is subtler than most humans', but Kiba can't really explain it.

If he had to put it into words, he'd say that most people smell like something. Their essence is a mix of existing smells. Hinata smells of subtle lilac and morning dew. Naruto's scent is sharper, something like spices, apples and warm earth.

Sasuke's scent is more subtle. It has this versatile quality to it that makes differentiating it from others much more difficult than it ought to be. Kiba would say Sasuke smells like pain, if he had to put a label to it.

They've just found the spot where Shikamaru's nightly forest essence mixes with Sasuke's. Examining the area, Kiba points to some dirty, blood-stained bandages half hidden under the cartons and trash in the alley. He picks it up and hands it to Naruto reflexively.

The boy hasn't said a word since he separated from Sakura. He can't believe Sasuke's back, that he's here and somehow escaped Orochimaru. He doesn't know what he wants to do. Doesn't know how to feel, what to say. The only certainty in Naruto's mind at the moment is that he needs to find the other boy. That he will find the Uchiha and confront him. He'll bring Sasuke back home, or he'll give the boy a real reason to leave.

Naruto will show Sasuke that he can't get rid of him so easily, either way. He's still angry, yes, but it's nothing compared to the worry that overwhelms him when he catches sight of the blood-stained bandages that no doubt belong to Sasuke. Okay. He had better be alive. Because if he's not, Naruto will kill him.

Naruto takes the bandages in hand and pockets them. He doesn't know why really, it's the same as with Sasuke's old forehead protector, which is stubbornly kept in Naruto's bottom drawer, an instinct. Naruto sighs under his breath as Kiba straightens and takes off in another direction, walking in the middle of the street. They're retracing Sasuke's steps. Sasuke was here just a little over seven hours ago. It feels unreal, like a bad dream.

_Why fight me so hard? Will you never trust me?_

What the fuck happened to Kiba's team? Why is Sasuke wounded and why the hell is Tsunade keeping information from them?

In the end, what Naruto feels is too complex to put into words, or even just thoughts, so he focuses on finding Sasuke and he can react and mope and think all he wants when the boy is safely tied to a bed, recuperating, not bleeding to death in some alley out of idiotic stubbornness.

As soon as his focus returns to Kiba and Hinata, he finds them both walking side by side in front of him, Akamaru leading the way. The animal seems to be hesitating a little, shuffling left, then right before continuing ahead. Naruto has seen the dog track often enough to know something isn't right.

"What's wrong with Akamaru? Is he having trouble following Sasuke's scent?"

Kiba scoffs at that, but reluctantly admits, "Kinda. It's easier to track just the faint smell of his blood, but it's been too long to rely just on that. Plus the Uchiha's scent is just... weird."

_Weird?_

As intelligibly as Naruto can put it, he replies, "Huh?"

"You know, like, he doesn't have a specific and easy smell. It kinda mixes up too easily with the rest. And we are tracking him six hours late, y'know." A second later, Kiba's canines show in an arrogant smirk, "But we'll find'im. Me and Akamaru are the best."

The sun is dimming in the horizon, painting the blue sky orange and pink. Naruto's watching each color compete with the other in brilliance and despite the pink's soft hue, despite the orange's vibrant shine, darkness is coming. Naruto wonders if Sasuke is the darkness now.

But even if he were, Naruto isn't sure he'd be able to give him up. Even now, as the sun slowly steps away from the earth, the moon shows a hesitant glow on the opposite side. Naruto smiles at it reflexively. The moon's cool light is easily the most beautiful thing in the world to the blond boy. Maybe because it's so far. Maybe because man can never catch the moon.

Hinata's gaze is trained on the orange-clad boy's frame as he reaches a hand and makes a fist over the moon, like he's somehow managed to catch it. She smiles when she hears his small, determined whisper, "I'll have you, some day."

The girl always knew Naruto would overcome this. He overcomes everything after all.

The air is cooling and the streets are slowly emptying. For a second, Hinata feels an itch at the back of her neck. She knows it's not due to the cold. It's that edge of danger teasing her senses. They're being watched. A shiver goes through her frame and she tugs on Kiba's sleeve.

The Inuzuka's stance has also changed to something more aware, his nose twitching and his protuberant canines showing even more as his top lip curls up unconsciously. Naruto, as oblivious as he likes to pretend that he is, has straightened up and Hinata can tell he's sensed the presence too.

It doesn't feel evil, but it is foreign. If it somehow managed to slip through the guards and the jutsus holding Konoha safe, then there's reason to be on edge. "Should we... should we alert the guards?" Hinata whispers that question under her breath.

Both males turn to face her at the hesitant inquiry. It's obvious that calling for help has not even occurred to either of them. For a moment, Hinata understands what her teacher always grumbles about under her breath when she whispers that exasperated 'men!'

Before she gets an answer from either of the boys, Hinata spots something moving from the corner of her eyes and she instantly calls the byakugan. She can see past the buildings and the villagers going about their activities to focus on the source of the threat. The chakra pattern is so large that Hinata gasps, "It's a man, this way." She nods quietly towards the shape crouching behind a building, supposedly hidden from all sight. The nervous edge to the girl's words and her stutter have all but disappeared. At this moment, Hinata is all business.

Kiba looks in the direction that Hinata indicates, but even as he does so, a glimpse of gold catches his eyes. Whatever is left of the sunlight shows Kiba the shape of a young girl running away. Recognition dawns and Kiba growls, without second thought taking off after her, Akamaru in toe. It's that girl, she was at the clearing, she saw his team die.

He doesn't hear Hinata's hurried call to him, nor does he hear Naruto's angry shout. All that matters is finding out what that girl knows. He can see the small feet ahead of him. She's dressed in that same white cloth than before and it makes her look almost translucent, white flesh, pale hair and that dress.

Hinata and Naruto are left cursing (well Naruto's cursing, Hinata is frowning and worrying her bottom lip) and wondering if they should run after the Inuzuka. The decision is made for them as a black-clad form jumps away from his hiding place, landing right in front of them.

"You may go no further." The voice and eyes are so cold that Hinata gives a shiver. They don't know the potential of this ninja, but in the middle of Konoha, there's only so much he can do against leaf nins. She's glad to find that she's not scared of what he could do to them, but rather, she's scared of what can happen to a man for him to sound this... dead inside.

Naruto growls after him, "The hell I can't! Get the fuck out of our way if you don't want to get hurt!"

Hinata adds a quiet, "Please do so, sir" at the end that sounds so entirely polite it's almost ridiculous. The unknown nin's head is covered in a tight cloth mask and his dead eyes watch the two children he's faced with.

"I wonder, I wonder..." His voice reaches over the empty street and Naruto takes the insult to heart, leaping at the nin in his usual careless fashion (which is truly meant to test the other's abilities rather than to cause damage as most assume). Hinata follows Naruto's lead more discreetly, advancing to a position where she can defend Naruto.

The man stands motionless where he is, apparently waiting for the blow to come. Naruto's powerful kick slams right in the man's chest, causing him to take precisely one and a half step back. The boy growls at the ineffectiveness of the hit and shifts his position in the air to deliver an elbow to the side of the man's head. The man finally makes a move and catches the elbow. He doesn't block, doesn't dodge, he catches the boy's arm in his large hand and swings Naruto away from him as if he were a mere doll.

Hinata jumps up to aid Naruto and she wraps both arms around the falling boy's waist, straightening both of them for a perfect landing.

The man's dead voice rings in the air again. "You may go no further." It seems there's nothing to be added to that, but as Naruto rubs his arm with a pained exclamation, fiery eyes itching with the urge to fight and suddenly studying the opponent much more sharply, the man speaks again, "Do not force injury upon yourselves, please. I have no wish to harm you and go against..." He stops at that, as if pained by the unmentioned sentence..

Naruto does not acknowledge the man's words as anything but insult and this time he has witnessed the man's close combat resilience. He sneers, "Hey asshole, you may be able to take a blow, but you can't take all of Uzumaki Naruto!"

The man's head cocks at hearing that sentence. It's his only reaction apart from the low words, "So it is you." Even as Naruto plunges towards him, blue chakra enhancing speed and strength, the man nods at Naruto and leaps back and on top of the nearest building, a two stories high residence in this case. From there he just fades in the wind.

Naruto growls in frustration, reaching the spot where the man disappeared a mere second after he vanished. "Damn it! What the hell was that all about? What are the guards doing, huh?"

Hinata frowns in thought as she reviews the entire meeting. "He did not seem evil, Naruto-kun. There were no bad intentions. Maybe that's how he passed the guards?"

At that, the boy seems to calm and he nods, "Yeah, you're right..." He pauses and looks over at Hinata, concern showing in his blue eyes, "You're not... hurt, are you?"

Warmth goes right up the girl's cheeks, reddening her face prettily, "N... No, I'm fine... And... And you?"

Embarrassed laughter rings through the deserted street as Naruto rubs the back of his head, "Well my foot hurts more than anything else!"

Still blushing, Hinata looks away from Naruto. She's suddenly reminded of Kiba's absence at her side and she says nervously, "Naruto-kun? We have to find Kiba."

"And we also have to find that Sasuke-bastard." He sighs and looks so torn for a moment that Hinata knows what she has to do. She did tell Kiba she'd protect him anyhow, "I will find Kiba, Naruto-kun. I made him a promise. You made a promise too, didn't you?"

Naruto swallows painfully at that and nods. His voice is huskier when he speaks, anguish evident in his tone, "Yeah, I did. Will you be okay on your own, Hinata?"

"I have to be strong for Kiba now, not just for me. I'll be fine." There's peace in her voice when she says that. It gives her the strength to smile and wave at Naruto once before she takes off in the direction Kiba went.

_tbc..._

_Those who know who the man is get brownie points. Also, I had a giggle fit at the end of that bit with Sasuke at the thought of the woman going upstairs and saying, "Oh my God! Honey, come quick! There's a half-naked Uchiha with a pink dress squatting our attic!" Oh! And much more than brownie points to those who can guess where Sasuke is._

_Some replies:_

_XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: (so much love for constant commenting, hee) Long live pink dresses! (secretly hates pink)_

_Do leave a word. Good or bad, I'll appreciate it!_


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N: I was shopping for a car today and I never felt the urge to **hang myself** any stronger than I did then, I swear. Salesmen are **EVIL.** Believe you me. Is it **supposed** to take an hour and a half just to tell me the fucking prices? Christ. Okay. Sorry. Needed to rant somewhere and you are all my innocent victims! mwahahaha!_

_Concerning the fic now :P Sorry for the wait, but again, car shopping and worse birthday ever have made life a little complicated lately. I shalt be writing more soon, don't you worry._

_This chapter is what I consider to be 'the last of the teasers' because after that, stuff happens. Between Sasuke and Naruto (which is soooo what I was waiting for, ha!)_

_So, enjoy!_

**The Sound of Pain: Chapter 7**

Chasing the blond girl down alley after alley, Kiba is managing to keep up easily enough. He doesn't want to tackle her to the floor, so he's following and gaining ground steadily. He knows she'll soon be unable to flee. He can hear her breath running short, can see her small feet taking each leap a little more unsteadily. She's been running him in circles with impressive stamina and he's feeling the strain, but Kiba isn't about to be outrun by a _girl_.

After a sharp turn, the girl stumbles and sprawls out on the gravelly street. It's a hard fall and her body skids on the ground for a few feet. In a second, Kiba is on her. He doesn't want to hurt the girl, but there's no way he's going to let her escape. She was _there_ when his captain was killed. She knows who did it.

Kiba grabs both of her wrists firmly and pulls her up. He frowns as he notices how thin and fragile she seems. He'd said to Tsunade that she couldn't be more than thirteen, but noticing how easily both of her wrists fit in one of his hands, how light she is, Kiba thinks she's younger than that. Maybe eight or ten.

She doesn't fight him. Her large brown eyes look up at him and she smiles through the pain of her fall and the undoubtedly too-strong grip on her wrists. Her cheek is showing a pattern of brown and red, dirt and blood from the ground. Her knees and hands are also lightly injured but Kiba isn't distracted by any of it. He focuses on neutralizing the girl, using some of the wire from his pouch to tie her hands together.

She lets him do it, cocking her head at him curiously, like she hasn't just run herself ragged escaping from him. She watches him with dettached indifference. The sight of Akamaru produces a completely different reaction however. As soon as the white animal struts in front of her, the girl's eyes are fixed on him, fascinated. Her jaw drops a little and she stares at the dog as if she's never seen one before. The animal just trots up to her and sniffs at a bruised ankle.

The feeling of the cool muzzle has the girl squirming in Kiba's grasp and it reminds her that she's being held. She fixed a miffed glance at the boy holding her. The Inuzuka is holding her unresisting body still and meets the gaze sternly. Now that he's captured her, he isn't quite sure what to say. She looks so young, so innocent and removed. Like she doesn't really understand that she's alive. Kiba doesn't know whether he wants to demand answers of just mindlessly shake some life into her.

Akamaru nuzzles the side of his hip and Kiba blinks away from the girl, regaining some rationality at feeling Akamaru's steady presence by him. The girl's pout is so completely childish, as is every one of her reactions that Kiba frowns in thought. She doesn't seem to realize what he could do to her. She just doesn't _understand_ it.

He asks her carefully, gauging her reaction, "What's your name?"

She doesn't answer. Her gaze is trained on the dog and she's smiling that oblivious smile, like a child's amazed glance at sweets.

Kiba is really starting to dislike that smile. It makes him feel guilty and uncomfortable. He lowers her to the ground so she's sitting with one leg under her, the other extended awkwardly. Kiba points at the animal now trotting around the both of them. "This is Akamaru, you like him?"

The blond girl nods slowly, her eyes still held by the dog's shape.

"I can let you pet Akamaru, would you like that? Would you like to touch him?"

Wide, stunned eyes turn to Kiba, like the girl can't believe her luck. She nods again, this time biting her bottom lip with what appears to be eagerness.

"There's just one thing you have to do before you can pet him, is that okay? Can you help me out before you pet him?"

The blond head bobs again, a slightly more suspicious and hesitant nod.

"Do you remember me? Just a couple of weeks ago with my team, you remember them? I was with Sasuke." Kiba doesn't really know what makes him add that last, but he just goes with his instincts. Talking to the girl like she's a child of five seems to work well enough.

She nods again, this time with firm enthusiasm, like the memory's a good one.

Swallowing back his anger at her innocent reaction, Kiba asks, "Can you tell me what happened to my team? The people I was with? I'll let you pet Akamaru all you want if you tell me."

The object of the conversation is sitting just a few feet away from the little girl staring at him with longing. Her bottom lip gets bitten as she seems to think on the last question. Something like fear flashes in her gaze, warring with the longing, needy look towards the dog. Finally, after some deliberation, the urge to pet the animal wins out and the girl nods, moving hesitant eyes to Kiba again.

The Inuzuka looks at her and smiles, prompting.

His attention is so focused on the girl's answer and their exchange that he doesn't see or hear the masked nin approaching before Akamaru barks out a warning. Kiba pivots on his feet to face the man, but it's already too late. The back of his coat is roughly grabbed and Kiba feels himself effortlessly picked off the floor and thrown backwards with incredible force.

Instantly, Kiba tries to twist in the air so he can land on his feet, but the speed is too great and he slams into the wall of a now deserted shop. His shoulder makes brutal contact with the rock and Kiba slumps to the ground. Despite the pain burgeonning in his side and shoulder, he stumbles to his feet to face the threat. He has hardly a second to duck the large fist coming at him. Bending under it, Kiba blocks the man's oncoming kick even as Akamaru leaps onto the unknown-nin's back. The kick makes contact with Kiba's blocking forearm and despite the fact that he blocked the blow, Kiba is still propelled backwards from the force of it. He lands a few feet away on his back, looking up just in time to watch the man swiftly turn and strike Akamaru mid-charge with an elbow.

"Akamaru!" Kiba is on his feet in a second, jumping to catch and soften his companion's fall. They both land safely, if a little worse for wear, in the middle of the street. Kiba can tell that some of the residents around the area have heard the sounds of a fight, so there'll be backup soon. All he needs to do is stand up to this mountain of a man for a few minutes more and it'll all be over.

The thought suddenly comes to Kiba that this may be the man who killed his team. When he realizes that, Kiba's growl grows uncontrollable and loudly animalistic. He can feel himself going feral and he just lets is happen. No fucking way in hell is this man escaping.

Unnoticed by either men, the young girl crawls away on wobbly feet, her hands still tied together.

Now wholly focused on the man, Kiba leaps at him with renewed speed and determination. Nails made claws reach for the man's vulnerable spots, but the nin neatly sidesteps the jumping Kiba and avoids most of the hit. The boy's claws still make contact though, imbedding themselves in the flesh of the man's forearm. Using the hold, Kiba shifts his momentum to slide down to the ground and between the man's legs. He kicks them out from under him, grunting at the effort involved.

Akamaru is perfectly coordinated with Kiba's efforts, springing up to tackle the now unbalanced nin.

Unfortunately for Kiba, the man doesn't try to remain upright as most fighters would. He neatly goes down with the blow and rolls on the floor, avoiding Akamaru's leap and counterattacking at once with seals formed in the tumble. Rising to his knees, the man summons dozens of ice shards that immediately form a prison around Akamaru before the dog even lands.

Kiba's concern for Akamaru costs him seconds of precious time which the man uses to strike. The masked nin aims a powerful blow to the side of the boy's head, pivoting to deliver it. Kiba barely blocks it with his already abused forearm and the nin's fist makes contact enough that for a few seconds, Kiba can't see properly, his vision swimming before his eyes.

He can feel himself picked off the floor and slammed into a wall. The contact steals his breath away and Kiba can barely manage to stay awake. He can distantly hear a low, dead voice ask, "Where did you take him?"

The man pulls the limp body from the wall and slams him back again, causing the boy's head to crack against the hard rock. "Where?"

The last thing Kiba hears after that is a distressed but still and always sweet voice crying out his name. Then everything goes black.

Hinata's shout accompanies her dead run to help her fallen comrade, but she comes to a stop when the man holds the boy up like a ragged doll, a kunai at his throat, slowly drawing a line of blood. "Do not follow me. He will regret it."

The man grabs Kiba more firmly and jumps up on the roofs, disappearing within seconds.

Hinata watches them leave, her gaze as close to anger as the girl ever gets. There's no pause, no hesitation at all in her actions afterwards. She runs to the icy cage where she can hear Akamaru's whine and with a strong blow, she breaks down the barrier. She pulls out a scroll and writes down a few symbols, then leaves the paper on the floor for the guards to find.

"Show me the way, Akamaru."

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"Okay. If I was an injured, cold bastard of an Uchiha, where would I hide?" Naruto speaks to himself as soon as Hinata leaves. He's not overly concerned about Kiba anymore, because Hinata will be there for him.

It's Naruto's job to be there for Sasuke now. This mission is too important to fuck up. Finding Sasuke is more than a priority, it's a must. And Naruto was handpicked for this mission so there's got to be a reason. He knows Sasuke best. Or at least he knew the boy.

Fear momentarilly seizes up Naruto, but he quickly shakes it off. Of course Sasuke will still be Sasuke. He's too strong to just give in to Orochimaru. So there's no way he'll have changed _that _much. He'll still be broody and snobby and beautiful and flawlessly imperfect. He's too strong to lose himself... Isn't he?

Taking a deep breath, Naruto dismisses those thoughts. He's going to have to find the other boy before any of that becomes an issue. Now where the fuck would Sasuke go?

_And why the hell would he still want to run?_

After all, hasn't Naruto done enough now to prove that he cares? Hasn't he done every goddamn thing he could to stop Sasuke from leaving? To show him that he mattered?

_Apparently it's not enough yet. The stubborn bastard won't give in and admit that I love him, fine, but I'm not giving in to him. I'm not going to lose and I'm not going to stop caring._

It's completely typical of Naruto to see the issue with Sasuke as any other competition, himself on one side and Sasuke on the other. And of course, he's going to win this one like _every_ other.

_Right._

Uzumaki Naruto doesn't give in to anyone.

The boy's eyes are an even more determined blue when he looks up. His mind is running through the possibilities of escape that Sasuke might have considered. The Hospital is not an option. Nothing anywhere near a hospital despite the fact that he needs supplies.

It needs to be some place familiar, some place Sasuke would feel at ease hiding in. Where, where, where? He can't be at the Uchiha compound, too obvious. The Hokage tower is out of the question with the sheer amount of guards there. Kakashi's place was already covered. That leaves only two places.

Naruto takes off in a run, heading north and unknowingly away from Kiba and the masked nin's altercation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Under his pink dress, Sasuke wakes up with a scream on his lips, sitting up in one rash and defensive move. His instincts are screaming at him that something isn't right. Something's going on that he needs to know about. Looking down at himself, Sasuke slowly steadies his harsh breathing and brings a hand to rub at his face. _It's okay. It's nothing. You're safe._

How long has it been since he got out of Kakashi's place? Eight, nine hours, maybe... It's well into the night out and Sasuke feels relief for a second. It'll be easier to remain hidden during the night.

The paranoid feeling that something is _wrong_ isn't leaving him so Sasuke painfully climbs to his feet. He looks at the scrolls holding the jutsu up, studying every aspect of the room to insure that it's unchanged. Once he's satisfied with that, Sasuke starts on the bandages on his stomach, slowly unrolling the cotton to reveal the wound.

The curse seal is doing its job, speeding up the healing, but the wound still looks fresh and painful. Actually, it doesn't just look painful. Sasuke clenches his teeth as he pours some alcohol on a cloth and recleans the cut. The cream goes on next and it's again covered by clean bandages.

_Wrong._

"Shut up." Sasuke mumbles that under his breath, recovering from the onslaught of pain he's just inflicted on himself by cleaning the wound. There's nothing wrong _here_.

But that doesn't mean it's not important. Shaking his head clear, Sasuke decides to go with his instincts and he reaches for the black shirt. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke slides it on carefully and stealthily makes his way out of the attic and in the streets of Konoha.

He makes one with the shadows around him, scanning his surroundings with sharp eyes. The street seems clear so Sasuke gathers Chakra to the soles of his feet and jumps up on the roof.

The landing proves trying and Sasuke bites back a curse at the jolting of torn flesh. He does have a better view from here though. Crouching low as he can, Sasuke's eyes takes in the disturbance around the area. He can see ANBU flying from roof to roof, all rushing to the same point.

It's a good thing they're too busy to pay much attention to him, because right now, he only has his dark clothing and natural stealth hiding him. Now what's causing all that fuss?

Dark eyes survey the men running south and Sasuke mentally counts them (eleven men), recognizing some of them from the way they move. From his point of view, Sasuke is probably the only one who can see so far to the west and east. He can see a handful of figures apart from the main body of people that the ANBU have almost certainly not spotted yet. He makes out first a girl and a dog. The girl is a Hyuuga, her eyes almost shining in the night. Probably Hinata. Ahead of them, Sasuke can see a man wrapped in dark carrying a burden across his shoulder, obviously a boy. The ANBU are not heading in the right direction to catch up to them and the way the man moves is so incredibly familiar that Sasuke gasps with recognition.

"Ren..."

It can't be... Why here and why now, like this? What does he want with Konoha?

_Is he okay?_

"Fuck."

After a few minutes of silence, Sasuke snaps back to himself. His mind is going over the possibilities. He could use this distraction to escape Konoha despite his wounded state, but he wouldn't go far. This does mean that the people will be put in alert though, unknown-nins kidnapping people is a far different business than a forgotten Uchiha suddenly reappearing.

Sasuke needs to get moving either way.

_Well fuck it._

A wave of dizziness momentarily steals away Sasuke's vision and he lays his head on the cool tile of the roof, waiting it out. The moon is shining over his crouching form and Sasuke silently clenches his fist in irritation at the weakness still present in his body.

He doesn't have all day to wait out a stupid dizzy spell. He has to hide while the ANBU are distracted. The urge to activate the curse seal has Sasuke shaking his head to himself.

_No. The Chakra will give it away._

But it would feel so much better... no more pain...

_No. Not now. Not like this. You don't **need** it._

Sasuke's head raises from the tile and he's recovered enough vision and sense of balance to let himself slide to the ground floor. Looking around himself, the dilemma of _where the hell do I go now?_ presents itself again and Sasuke can feel the unwelcome presence of a thought he has most certainly banished ever since he learned he was in Konoha.

_Naruto_.

Sasuke mentally swats at the other boy's presence and he starts to walk, keeping to the shadows and alleys.

_You can't avoid it forever._

"Watch me."

_**tbc...**_

_I love stubborn Sasuke. That last line just struck me as **him**, y'know? -snerk-blows kisses to my Uchiha!Muse-_

_Don't forget to leave a review for me, yah? They make me muchly happy!_

_Some replies: _

_Jenanien: That totally cracked me up. No need to apologize, heh! I'm always glad to be hearing from you! Oh, and this is for you... -offers 'I win at life' shirt- at least you can pretend. ;) _

_Midnight Velvet: No apologies for ranting, hun! I love rants. See above for my own little rant about car dealers. But heh! You asked whether Sasuke lived alone after his parent's death and I'm inclined to think against that, actually. I think they got him a guardian for a little while before he claimed the estate. It's really made me wonder about the village's rules concerning ninjas and children. Because every one of those nins in the show is just a child, despite all. Would the rules be as strict concerning a 5 year old as it would be for a 12 year old vs an adult? I'm going to elaborate on my take of this a little later on in the fic, promise! (love)_

_RetaroO: Very right you are. Ren it was. The man is fairly fucked up, and I can't wait for the opportunity to show y'all just how much! Heh! Muchos love to you! Keep enjoying yourself, heh?_

_Reader: Whenever I feel blocked some way or another when writing, I reread the whole thing from the start, so I have gone through the chapters quite a lot and I (shamefully) admit that this story was written all in one go. Chapters were never accounted for in the first draft. I'm glad you enjoyed it as it was meant to be read:D_

_XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: -fears the spork-a lot- Lol! Yeah, my aversion to pink doesn't stem from Sakura, it was just... strengthened by her. I am trying to like her, I swear!_

_Nyeh: You win! (on both counts, shush) Thanks for the review and enjoy being right. :P_

_Shadowbright: Darling! Missed you! Lol! That entire thing with Lee and Neji cracked me up too (the kiss part especially, that one just makes me giggle). And don't worry about BabyUke!Naruto. I don't like him. I actually had a lot of trouble getting into the mindset of Uke and Seme. I stem from the more americanized fanfiction (where it's called slash and not yaoi) so I hadn't even heard of Semes and Ukes and I very much enjoy my couples switching from time to time. Although with a firmly dominant personality established. Hmm... I think Sasuke will be Seme in this, but not at first. -points up- the boy has such a huge denial issue, he's gonna need a push, methinks._


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N: This chapter is so beautiful to me. I hope you'll find yourselves enjoying it as much as I have... Some parts of it may be hard to follow, especially when following Sasuke around. Everything that's in italics is either a flashback or a thought. I trust the reader enough to know the difference!_

**The Sound of Pain: Chapter 8**

After giving a complete report to the Hokage of the survey done on the Uchiha compound, Sakura, Shikamaru and Neji were released for the night. They all take different paths to head back home and none of them can deny the sense of foreboding that surrounds them when they split up.

Hyuuga Neji has always been very sensitive to what can't be seen. His intuition is so finely honed that he can feel ghost thoughts hovering around teammates even without activating the byakugan. He wonders as he heads back to the Hyuuga district whether Sasuke's sharingan permits him that same connection to the unseen. Can Sasuke feel the spirits around the Uchiha compound? Can he tell what others feel?

The sharingan is fundamentally different from the byakugan, yet it stems from the same root. Neji wonders how it would feel to know what other people will do before they do it. He wonders if the byakugan could compete with the sharingan. He wonders if he could win against Uchiha Sasuke. He wonders if knowing of someone's betrayal in advance makes any of it easier.

The Hyuuga prodigy feels bound to the Uchiha, even though they never really knew one another. Neji feels like he and Sasuke have a lot in common. Revenge against the main house has driven Neji to become the best, and likewise, revenge against his brother has driven Sasuke to strive for excellence. Neji doesn't make excuses for Sasuke's actions, but he doesn't consider his departure as a personal betrayal. Perhaps because he's never been close to the boy, perhaps because he's felt the same urge to leave everything that feels warm behind just to avoid being hurt.

Sometimes, when everything is silent in Konoha and the dead of night rings emptiness, Neji watches the moon and wonders how much self-inflicted torment one can subject themselves to. He thinks on the Uchiha and he wonders what's happening to him in Sound. He wonders if he would ever be stupid enough, or desperate enough to make the same mistakes as the Uchiha.

Neji thinks the Uchiha needs to be saved and protected, no matter how badly he'll fight against it. Someone needs to tell him that it's okay to be hurt, it's okay to be angry and it's okay to be loved. Hyuuga Neji wonders if Naruto will tell him that, or whether he'll reach his limit before he gets the chance.

Naruto has always defended Sasuke's honor around his teammates. He's always fought to prove that Sasuke wasn't a traitor, that he's a great fighter and that he's no weak coward.

Neji wonders whether Naruto knows how angry he is with Sasuke. How his words about Sasuke always sound like he means to hurt back. He thinks not. The boy is always oblivious to the most important hints when it concerns himself.

In the end, Neji thinks that Sasuke's fate will forever bring him much more pain than he deserves, even if his choices earn him pain enough. It makes Neji glad he's not as stubborn as the Uchiha.

As Neji turns the corner to the street leading to the Hyuuga district, his keen hearing picks up a suspicious muffled sound. The villagers are all inside and most are already sleeping. This noise stands out from anything else. It's irregular and discreet and soft.

Frowning, Neji turns to where the sound comes from and begins to investigate. As he walks between two houses, he can identify the strange noise a little better. It sounds like softly hitched breathing, not crying, but definitely something hurt.

Immediately on his guard, Neji activates his byakugan to scan his surroundings. It takes him half a second to locate the source of the sound. Behind a large dumpster, curled up on itself is a small chakra pattern. It's a child.

Neji sets his white eyes on the shape and walks closer. His byakugan recedes and Neji can see the little girl as more than shaped chakra. Her blond hair is dirty, her hands tightly bound together with wire and her knees and elbows show hints of blood. She's twisting her wrists, trying to escape the bonds but only succeeds in digging the wire deeper in her flesh.

The Hyuuga prodigy slowly approaches her and stops her fidgeting motions. His hand covers both of her wrists and the girl looks up at him with wide brown eyes. Neji notices that she's a very pretty young girl, but something about her feels off. Her thoughts are further away, removed. Neji can hardly sense a presence in her body.

"Calm down, young one." Neji's fingers work on releasing the bonds, then soothing the marred flesh of her wrists. "What's your name?"

The girl blinks at him. Twice. Her eyes are fixed on him and suddenly, she smiles, content and carefree.

Neji tilts her chin up to look at the injury on her cheek, "Where are your parents? Who did this to you?"

The boy's touch is careful and gentle and the young girl's smile recedes, her eyes shimmering with tears. It's almost like that single hint of kindness is enough to bring her to tears. Neji doesn't really know what to do with her, so he figures he might as well bring her to the Hokage so they can figure out what happened to her.

"B... Bijin." The word is so soft that Neji would have missed it if he'd not been paying attention.

"Bijin? Is that your name, young one?"

The smiling nod is enough of an answer for Neji and he nods, "Alright then, Bijin. Where are your parents?"

The girl shakes her head, seemingly frustrated with him and she pouts. A few seconds later, she whispers, "Find moon?" like a distant memory just came to her. Biting her lip, she looks up at Neji with hope-filled brown eyes. "Help?"

Neji blinks at the girl's words but he doesn't otherwise comment. He holds out his hand for the girl and she she hesitantly reaches to take it, her little hand sliding into the Hyuuga's palm.

"Help." Her tone is firm. She's decided that Neji will help her.

So the Hyuuga leads her out of the alley and back to the Hokage tower.

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Haruno Sakura is fighting the heavy weight of disappointment as she heads back home. She'd so hoped to find Sasuke, to save him. Sakura isn't blind, though. She's also very smart. She'd have to be both dumb and blind not to see that Naruto's endless devotion isn't just for the sake of his promise to her. It's not for the sake of saving a mere rival.

There has always been a connection between Naruto and Sasuke that Sakura never had any business in. The boys' rivalry and their anger and their passion. Sakura can't take any part of that. She can't be comfort to Sasuke's loneliness. She can't soothe his anger, can't tame his passion. She can't match any of it. It makes the girl feel more rejected than any of Sasuke's cold words could have.

She doesn't want Naruto to find Sasuke first. Something tells her that if she doesn't find him first, she'll never have any chance of being there for him. No one will show him the way out gently and with endless patience. Naruto, she decides, doesn't have what it takes to take care of someone as beautiful and fragile as Sasuke can be.

As Sakura nears her house, she notices two things. The first is the smell of freshly baked cake, the second is a slightly ajar window. Frowning, Sakura unlocks her front door and quietly steps inside. She sees the pastry on the kitchen table with a neatly written note from her mother that she should eat more. Smiling fondly, Sakura heads towards the open window in the living room and shuts it.

There. Now the house will finally get warmer.

Sakura walks to her room and lies down on her bed, her arms and legs spread to take up as much space as possible. She frowns as she feels something wet on her right hand. Bringing the fingers in front of her, Sakura blinks at the sight of blood. _Did I cut myself or something?_

There's no trace of injury on the hand, and not that much blood on the mattress. It takes another second and Sakura springs up from her bed, running back to the window. She grabs the edge and pulls it open, watching the blood stained wood with shocked, horror-filled eyes.

Heart suddenly pounding in her ears, Sakura runs to her parents' room and tears open the door. She drinks in the sight of the both of them sleeping, _breathing_ peacefully. When she feels satisfied with that, she realizes that the blood probably comes from Sasuke himself.

_He'd come here?_

It has never even occurred to her that the boy would choose her house as somewhere to hide. Sakura didn't even think he'd remember where she lived... but that's sort of silly when you think about the fact that Sasuke is an Uchiha, with a near photographic memory with or without the Sharingan.

She can't feel his presence lingering around the house. She hadn't even noticed the blood. Feeling like smacking her large forehead, Sakura starts to methodically survey every room in the house. Her racing heart makes calm thinking difficult, so she starts to hurry through the search process. When she lowers the staircase leading to the attic, she takes a deep breath to calm herself. She tells herself she won't find the boy dead in her attic. He'll be fine, passed out at worst. He'll be alive and okay.

_Shouldn't you be on your guard? He may be dangerous._

That thought has Sakura biting her lip as she reaches in her weapons' pouch for a kunai. She takes each step up slowly and carefully, senses on alert. All the danger in the world doesn't stop Sakura from shutting her eyes as she's finally high enough to see into the room.

_Come on, you can do it. Just open your eyes._

With a deep breath, Sakura looks around her to the discarded pink dress, left over scrolls, but no Uchiha. _But he was here. He really was._

Sakura gathers the blood stained scrolls and the blood-covered dress. She picks up the bloody bandages and the blood-filled clothing.

_So much blood. There's so much of it._

One part of her mind is slowly panicking, but the rest of her calmly folds clothing, scrolls, dress and bandages, then starts to investigate in detail everything around the area. She doesn't miss a single clue and when she's satisfied, she heads back downstairs and to the Hokage tower.

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"_Sasuke... Sasuke, wake up."_

_The voice is soft and quietly hushed, but the urgency is undeniable. Sasuke can hardly feel his arms and legs, the only thing he can make sense of is his heartbeat. There's no up and down, no pain, no fear, just a dull thud-thud-thud..._

"_Sasuke please... they'll be back soon. Wake up!"_

_It's the voice of a boy, a blond-haired, blue-eyed child who is still breathing because of Sasuke. _

"_Sasuke!"_

_The sound of his own name grates on Sasuke's nerves enough for him to force his eyelids open. There's the child. Scared little thing is out of his wits, tugging at Sasuke's limp hand uselessly like it's the only thing he can do._

"_Sasuke..." with tears. _

_It smells like relief. Sasuke grunts as he regains use of his tongue. "Hikaru... run. Leave me here and run. I'll be fine."_

"_No... I can't. Please. Get up."_

_Sasuke couldn't stand if his life depended on it. Which it probably does. He does grab the child's arm firmly and shakes him. "Do as I say, boy. You don't want to defy me."_

_Teary blue eyes look straight into Sasuke's black ones and Sasuke can't deny the feeling of **protect** that overwhelms him at the sight of desperation. 'Naruto...'_

"_Now, boy."_

_Finally, finally a nod answers him and the child wraps small arms around Sasuke's neck. Sasuke feels like crying. He feels like giving up and just die here. "Just go, Hikaru." _

_Sasuke didn't know his own voice could sound so soft, so lost, yet so firm._

_The boy sobs, just once into Sasuke's neck, then he stands on shaky feet and runs away. Sasuke watches him go, feeling the threat approaching steadily and he just hopes that Hikaru will find someone somewhere to help him. _

_Sasuke watches the small silhouette growing smaller and smaller in the horizon. He shuts his eyes against the child's scream when a sharp kunai lodges itself in his back. _

"_Did you really think he would escape, Sasuke?"_

-

The wounded boy shakes his head clear of the memories, only to have his vision swimming again out of focus. He doesn't know where he's going anymore. He'd started out with a goal in mind, some safe place to reach. Some place _home_. But Sasuke figures he must've gotten lost when his head started to spin, when his muscles began to feel like jelly.

His hand is wrapped around his middle and blood is seeping through the cloth to his arm. Sasuke thinks blood loss is a very stupid way to die.

-

"_Do you know why jutsus become lost, Sasuke-kun? Do you know how they become those infamous forbidden jutsu?"_

"_I don't know the exact reason behind it, no." Sasuke is sitting in the middle of other Sasukes, reflections and shimmering images. _

"_A jutsu becomes forbidden when it becomes too dangerous to use without honed skill and knowledge. For example..."_

_Two men are introduced to the room, more reflections to go around. One of them is small, compact and his hair is an unusual light blue. The other is tall and thin, and Sasuke can see his lips painted red like a girl's. _

_The snake forms seals, so fast that Sasuke's sharingan is the only reason he catches them._

_The tall man suddenly bends over, grabbing his stomach and biting into those too-red lips. _

"_I am using this man's chakra against him. Attaching it to my own pattern and stealing it from him. It takes very precise control, or the alien chakra will burn your own. This technique is the basis of many, many others. How to shift other people's techniques against them, even as they're casting it."_

_The snake's voice is cold and rational. The man writhes on the floor in agony._

"_Are you purposefully hurting him?" Sasuke's own voice is cool but there are cracks if you pay attention, which Orochimaru certainly is._

"_Yes. I can do this painlessly. But you won't be able to." A hand gestures to the blue-haired man, "Try it."_

_Remembering the seals, Sasuke forms them and instantly feels the other man's fear. The stench of his chakra is suddenly drawn to Sasuke's. _

"_Balance."_

_Sasuke puts up a mental barrier between his chakra and the other nin's, balancing one against the other._

"_Match it."_

_It's a strain, but Sasuke can tell which part is up and which part is down in the shape of the other man's energy. It's an instinct, and nothing he could ever possibly put in words, but fitting the shapeless chakra to his own is almost effortless. It reminds Sasuke of the chidori. To alter the shape of chakra, to shift its nature. The two most powerful jutsus. _

_The man begins to scream with the pain, but Sasuke doesn't hear him. He can taste his chakra, the added power, the easily controllable strength. Sasuke moves a hand forward and strokes through the fascinating sight of chakra mingling together, his own purple-black one thoroughly dominating the smaller, greenish tint of the other man's. _

_It feels intimate, like mating should feel. Sasuke feels connected to the other man in a way he hardly ever has to anyone. He wonders if he could talk to the blue-haired nin. Wonders if he too needs to kill Itachi._

"_Enough." _

_But Sasuke doesn't want to stop. It reminds him of all the good things he's had in his life, his mother, Kakashi, Sakura... Naruto..._

"_I said enough!"_

_A slap across his face snaps him back to earth and Sasuke blinks to reality to find the blue-haired man on the floor, just a small cloud of white smoke rising from his limp body. _

_**I killed him.** The thought is striking and Sasuke suddenly can't breathe. His body slumps of its own accord to the floor. **I killed him.**_

"_It looks like you have a natural talent for that sort of thing, Sasuke-kun. Don't worry, you will recover soon enough."_

_But Sasuke is staring into the open eyes of the man he just killed, and he whispers, "No."_

-

Snapping back to reality, Sasuke finds himself in front of a building he knows all too well, but it's nowhere near where he was supposed to be. He wasn't supposed to walk here. He needed to get home to his mother's ghost.

Yet without his accord, his body moves to the staircase on the side of the building and Sasuke is climbing. His breathing is slow but shallow and the thud-thud-thud rings loudly in his ears.

His feet have a destination and the memories have weakened Sasuke's will to a point where he can't find it within himself to turn back,_ go away, leave, just listen to me and save yourself._

Instead, he slides through the open window and lies down on the bed. What little blood is left in his body begins to seep into the mattress of Naruto's bed.

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Naruto has already been to Sakura's house and without even entering, he saw the fresh blood on the windowsill. His worry climbs another notch and he has to force himself to take deep breaths to calm down. From there, it gets harder to follow Sasuke's tracks, so the boy heads to where he knows he'll find Sasuke.

Whether it's some instinct or just a hint of fate, Naruto _knows_ that now is the time. Now's the time for them to meet again. _Please let it be enough. Let me be enough, this time._

He stops in front of his apartment and hesitantly climbs up the stairs on the side of the building. He's following Sasuke's steps, he knows it. There's a splotch of blood on one of the steps giving it away, but it's not what makes Naruto shiver. _Be there, just please be there._

When Naruto looks through his window and sees the dark shape on his bed, deathly still, his heart gives a tug and for a moment, he just doesn't know what to do. He can't see the boy's face, but he knows it's him.

For what seems like an eternity, Naruto stares at Sasuke's form from outside his window. Anger and relief and fear and _fuck, I do love him, even after all that._

Sliding into the house, Naruto reaches a hand out to turn Sasuke on his back, but stops just short of touching him. _What it he disappears? What if you're just dreaming? What then?_

Fingers hover just millimeters away from touching the black-haired boy and Naruto takes in a deep breath when he decides to close the gap. He'd expected it to be a dream, so when his hand closes on a real shoulder and he can turn the boy over to watch his face, Naruto gasps out the breath he'd taken. Sasuke's presence is strong enough that Naruto knows he'll be alright, with care. His injuries, whatever they are, won't bring him to his death.

Part of him notices just how much Sasuke's grown. How much older, how much more beautiful he looks. The other part of him wants to mar that beauty. Grasping the shoulder more firmly, Naruto shakes the boy. Anything to make him react.

Sasuke's eyes snap open and he reflexively strikes out, knocking Naruto's hand off him. Somehow, that single gesture is enough for Naruto to see red, anger pulsing hotly in his body. _FuckfuckfuckfuckyouUchiha!_

The dark-haired boy freezes as recognition dawns. He can see the red in Naruto's eyes and it's wrong, so wrong, but at the same time, so right. Of course Naruto's angry. He has every right to be. He should reject Sasuke, should get revenge, hurt him back, something...

Naruto growls at Sasuke, grasping his collar, "Why are you still running? Are you back just to leave again?"

Whatever strength is left in Sasuke's weakened body goes to his fingers wrapping around Naruto's hand. The contact is electric, even under those circumstances and it makes Sasuke smile. He wants to say he's sorry, wants to say _I've missed you, you've changed, I don't care anymore_. But he doesn't. His black eyes lock onto Naruto's red ones and just the fact that they're red and not blue is rejection enough.

"Baka." It sounds so affectionate that Sasuke wants it back.

Naruto clenches his teeth and releases Sasuke's collar, watching the boy slump down to the mattress. "No. You're the idiot. Did you really think I'd want you back?"

Sasuke shuts his eyes against those words. Naruto wants to see the pain in his eyes. He wants to see that Sasuke understands. He wants Sasuke to hurt just as bad as he's hurt Naruto. The anger comes from some place Naruto doesn't understand. _Pain. It comes from pain._

The Uchiha's eyes are still shut. He can't control the pain in his body, in his heart and his soul. Somehow he'd still hoped... _Foolish little brother..._ that Naruto would... _You don't deserve it..._ forgive.

Naruto watches Sasuke closely, and despite the fact that part of him was screaming to hurt the boy only seconds before, he can't take it. Naruto can't force himself to hurt Sasuke any more than he already is. It hurts him just as bad to see Sasuke in pain...

Naruto's eyes shift back to blue, all of his anger gone as he watches Sasuke try to curl up against invisible pain. He feels the burn of tears at the back of his eyes and he just _can't take it._ Naruto whispers, "I didn't mean it... please stay..."

Naruto doesn't give Sasuke time enough to recover from that, he takes the boy's chin in his hand and bends over him. _I'll prove it to you. I'll win. I'll show you._ _There's nothing you can do to make me give up on you._

Slowly and gently, Naruto presses his lips against Sasuke's. He knows he's crying, but it doesn't matter. He carefully coaxes Sasuke's mouth open and slides his tongue inside. The kiss is soft and caring, a reunion and a promise. It lasts long enough for Naruto to stop crying, lasts long enough for Sasuke to feel his pain receding ever so slightly.

When they break apart, Naruto's smiling and Sasuke refuses to open his eyes. The dark-haired boy mumbles, "You're such a moron, Naruto."

Grinning even wider, Naruto replies, "Yeah, I am."

With a last snort, Sasuke wraps an arm around Naruto's neck, bringing him close in an unconsciously needy gesture, then promptly passes out.

_tbc..._

_Did I mention just how much I love that part? -sigh- so sweet. Finally._

_Some replies: _

_Nyeh: I hope that was worth the wait! And yeah, you were right. -sticks out tongue- Sakura's house was a fairly hard guess so congrats! Oh, and the angst isn't done. -points up- Sasuke has a lot of memories from Sound to deal with. But shyeah, Kiba has been kidnapped by Ren. THAT is going to be fun to write, hehehe. Thanks, and stay tuned!_

_Jenanien: I sorta like Ren. I think his desperation is his most striking point. He just needs, y'know? Kiba's interaction with him will definitely be worth the read. -wink- As to the little girl... well that will soon be solved. She's being brought to Tsunade now. But if you want a hint, we've glimpsed her before. -g-_

_XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: Funny thing, just as you wrote that last review, I finished that last chappy! Lol! Glad to see you're still with me!_

_Lapse - Raevn: I think Sasuke has a very strong character and too much weakness to be a proper Uke. -wink- But look at that... -points up- that was kind of SasUke-like. I am impossible glad that you enjoyed this characterisation of Sasuke. I've always seen the boy this way, with all of his blindness and all of his weakness and still a strong influence, strong character. -nods- Oh! And endless thanks for your comments about my style because I keep doubting it. I don't know if you caught that detail but my first language is French. So I question it and question it and I might be a little bit of a perfectionist. Little, little bit. -blows kiss- thank you, and keep reading, heh?_


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: More questions and some discoveries -pets Sasuke!muse- A zillion thanks to Shadowbright, because she rocks. And muchos love to those who're still with me on this story. Enjoy!

**-**

**The Sound of Pain: Chapter 9**

**-**

_**"You will be expected to remain still and relaxed."**_

_No. Not that. Anything but that._

_**"Now, child, don't be unreasonable. You don't want to leave before we even start the lesson."**_

_It's a dream. Sasuke knows it's a dream. So why can't he wake up?_

_**"Uchiha Sasuke, come down from there." **_

_Sasuke watches himself climb down from the tree. He can see his own Sharingan eyes so determined, so foolishly confident. He wants to open his mouth and scream at himself to run, to get the fuck out of there before that syringe touches you._

_But he doesn't listen. Sasuke can remember ignoring that inner voice screaming the warnings. He can remember telling himself that no matter what Orochimaru does, it'll never be enough to break him. _

_Sasuke watches himself extend an arm for the snake and he knows what's coming. He can't move, it's always like that in the dream. He just watches on, unable to do anything to save himself. _

_He sees the syringe pierce the tender flesh of Sasuke's forearm and suddenly feels himself sucked into his body, suddenly watching the snake from the floor as his legs fail him. The drug takes over every muscle, coaxing them to stillness. All of the willpower in the world becomes useless. Sasuke can't even lift a finger._

_The snake is talking, the words flow over him, transforming his powerlessness to fear._

"**_I have been waiting for this day, Sasuke-kun. The day when you would be old enough, strong enough, worthy enough."_**

_Sasuke can't tear his eyes from the Sannin. He can see the greed in them, the lust. His body is heating up and the snake's hands are cold as ice. Nails dig into his stomach, tracing possessive patterns over his skin._

"_**You'll never leave this place, my boy. From the day you stepped into Sound, you were mine."**_

_Sasuke's perfect memory is the worst curse in the world. He can remember every intonation in the snake's voice, the whisper of feelings around him, greed, lust, possessiveness. Sasuke can remember Orochimaru's tongue on his neck, can feel his hands gripping Sasuke's hips tightly enough to leave bruises.__He can remember the helplessness, the horror of not even being able to struggle, not even able to say 'no'._

"_**Can you feel it, Sasuke-kun?"**_

_Sasuke remembers with stark clarity the screaming inside his head. He can remember firm, freezing hands grasping onto his limp body and turning him around like some puppet, nose buried in the forest floor. Sasuke remembers being unable to turn his head to the side, he remembers Orochimaru pulling at his hair to help him breathe. He remembers the rough edges of a tree root digging into his stomach. He remembers the humiliation, the fear, the pain, the despair. He remembers every moment. He **remembers**. _

_This is no dream. _

Sasuke's eyes snap open, his breathing erratic, his throat burning with the urge to scream.

When he feels the weight of Naruto's body beside him, feels the blue eyes fixed on him with concern, can feel the hand gently stroking his hair and hear the murmured reassurances, Sasuke just wants to cry.

Naruto watches him, a dull pain in his stomach. He doesn't know what to say to make the boy forget, doesn't know what he should do with him and how they'll be able to be friends again.

The blond boy keeps whispering gentle words. Things like _it's okay, you're safe, I'm not letting you go and I'm sorry._

Sasuke pushes himself away from Naruto, dark eyes suddenly more lucid, awake and wary. "Why won't you let me go?" His voice is shakier than he'd like, but it's close enough to his cold, distant tone.

Naruto smiles like he would to a two year old who just asked why the sky is blue. "You're an utter bastard and all... but you're my best friend. You can't just decide to cut my bonds to you. S'not your choice, y'know? It's mine." And then Naruto sticks out his tongue at Sasuke.

The black-haired boy looks dubiously at his friend, "I'm not the same, Naruto."

"Bah, you're a bigger bastard than Orochimaru, so he can't have changed you _that_ much."

Sasuke stares at Naruto. He blinks twice. _Goddamn, Naruto._ Sasuke doesn't want to smile. He's _not_ trying to keep his lips from curling up in a grin.

"You're a complete moron."

"And you're a complete bastard."

Shaking his head to himself, Sasuke rubs at his eyes, suddenly afraid that this is just an illusion his taxed brain conjured up. Naruto's complete and blind belief in him is too unlikely to consider.

Sasuke feels more like himself than he has in years and it's all because of a loud-mouth idiot.

A hand cups Sasuke's chin and his eyes are drawn to the other boy's too-blue ones. The touch on his chin is too soft, just as those blue eyes are too old, too wise to belong to that idiot. They make Sasuke feel warm and vulnerable and it just makes him want to hit something. He doesn't though, because he owes this boy so much. He owes Naruto his sanity.

"I don't know what it was like out there, but I'll listen if you wanna tell me. But you're kind of a bastard, as we already covered, so it's okay if you don't talk. I just... I want you to stay... and I wanna know that you care. I want to hear it. S'all I'm gonna ask for now, kay?"

Sasuke can't believe what he's hearing from Naruto. It sounds like him, but not. Naruto has grown. He's grown well, as opposed to Sasuke himself. Even physically, the changes are undeniable. The blond boy is now a blond teenager who is unquestionably more attractive than the last time Sasuke saw him.

Not entirely sure that he should give Naruto what he wants, Sasuke stays silent for a long moment. Of course he cares about the blond. He's tried everything he could think of to get rid of their bond. Even trying to kill Naruto has done nothing, the feeling is still there, strong as ever. If anyone hurt Naruto, Sasuke would kill them. He wouldn't hesitate, wouldn't show pity, he'd just kill them.

But can he really allow himself to feel it? Can he let Naruto know that he cares? Can he give Naruto that much power over him? Sasuke has changed over the years. He's gained experience, he's seen and learned things that no one ever should. He's become accustomed to that constant feeling of fear and horror and pain. He knows in his mind and in his heart that honor is still and will always be a part of him. He knows that compassion is further from him than it was but _Tayuya, Bijin, Hikaru_... and all those people in Sound... no, Sasuke hasn't yet killed off his ability to feel for others.

He should have, but he can't. He can't help wanting to protect. _Uchiha Sasuke can't help feeling chivalrous, how touching. You'll never kill Itachi at this rate._

The striking memory of Itachi's blade burying itself in his stomach and the look on Tayuya's face as he sacrificed his chance to kill his brother to save her make Sasuke's blood boil with the knowledge that he could have had his brother's death. He just didn't hate enough to let Tayuya die.

_And you never will. Because you're Sasuke and not Itachi._

That voice sounds like his mother, it sounds like Kakashi and his father and all of his clan's forgiveness. Sasuke can't accept that. Not yet. _Itachi must die, I can't..._

Sasuke looks at Naruto, who is waiting as patiently as Naruto can wait (which wasn't very patiently at all). The fondness is undeniable. Sasuke has grown strong enough to hold his own against Itachi, even as he kept his honor, kept his humanity. He _has_ grown stronger. He's suffered for it, but maybe, just maybe compassion doesn't hold him back as much as he'd thought...

"You want to know that I care? What if I don't? What if I've changed that much? What then? Will you give up?"

At that, Naruto who rolls his eyes like it's Sasuke who's the idiot. "No, you baka-teme. I know you care, I just wanna hear it. S'not the same."

Sasuke shakes his head and he grabs Naruto's collar, forcing the boy close, noses almost touching, "I don't. I don't care." And he crushes their lips together, proving his words wrong. Yes he cares, yes he loves, but Naruto won't hear it. He'll feel it, but he won't hear it.

As Sasuke explores the dobe's mouth, tasting his warmth and his annoyance, he wonders if Naruto knows that he's just playing with semantics. The hand that cups the back of Sasuke's head and the moan that comes from Naruto's throat tells him...

Of course Naruto knows he's lying.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hinata has been running for hours long. Her stamina is completely exhausted, but she won't allow herself to rest. Her byakugan shows that the unknown nin is gaining ground and distance from her and Akamaru, despite the burden of Kiba's limp body. But Hinata figures that whoever this man is, he has to rest some time.

By the time morning comes, Hinata's target still hasn't stopped for a rest and she knows for a fact that she can't go on like this. She doesn't have the stamina to keep going at this speed for another minute, much less an hour. Suddenly, she stumbles on an unseen root and barely catches herself before she falls. Bent over herself, breathing hard and feeling lightheaded with the shocking absence of physical strain, Hinata shuts her eyes. She feels defeated, weak and powerless. "I can't give up on Kiba. I can't stop now." She whispers the words to herself, picturing Naruto's determination. "That's my way of the Ninja."

Brimming with newfound strength, Hinata raises her head, white eyes reflecting the firmness of her resolve. "Byakugan!" Her eyes are starting to hurt from the strain, but she needs to see them. They're three miles ahead still, but Hinata suddenly catches a flicker in the chakra pattern of who she assumes is Kiba, slumped over the larger one. _He's waking up._ The realization has Hinata smiling with hope and something like pride. _Give him hell, Kiba._

As predicted, not one second later, a struggle ensues. Hinata gathers herself and starts to run towards them when she suddenly picks up a chakra presence behind her. It's too close for comfort and it feels potent and dangerous.

Dropping into a crouch, Hinata turns the focus of her byakugan to the intruding presence. She can see the shape of two tall men, one much larger than the other, but with much less vivid chakra. They're too damn close. _How could they get so close? I should have seen them before..._

Unless this enemy (it feels like an enemy even more than the man ahead) knows of the byakugan's only weakness. But that can't be. They'd have to know that there is a Hyuuga in pursuit and no one knows of the byakugan's blind spot except for the Hyuuga themselves. Could this vivid chakra come from another Hyuuga?

What do they want? Who are they following?

Hinata's mind is filled with such questions, but she doesn't have the time to address them. The duo is getting closer, and they know it. Hinata can see them unsheathing weapons and she can sense malicious intent in the larger form. An intense need to kill. The smaller form is different. Hinata can sense... nothing. Nothing at all coming from him. That in itself is more of a threat than anything else.

_Are they after Kiba and that man? Why?_

The most important question presents itself... can she hold them back? Should she? Or will they, in all of their aggression, become unwitting allies?

Taking out kunai and wire, Hinata shakes her head to herself. They knew about the byakugan, there's no other explanation as to why they could've gotten so close without her noticing them. They're barely a mile away now. If they knew about the byakugan, then they're expecting to fight a Hyuuga, or at least hoping to get the drop on her.

She can't outrun them in her state. She could try to hide, but they seem to have pinpointed her location too precisely for that. It's like there's something that allows them to track her... or track Kiba. Akamaru's nose is the only reason Hinata hasn't lost his trail yet. Could it be that these two men have something similar?

Shaking her head clear, Hinata makes her decision. Whether they're after her or after Kiba, she can't let them win. She can at least delay them, if nothing else.

_Kiba needs you, so be sure to stay alive._

With a deep breath, Hinata prepares a bunshin and leaps up into the nearest tree. If nothing else, she might have the advantage of knowing the terrain. Her shadow won't trick anyone with true power, so she prepares a failsafe trap and focuses her byakugan back to the oncoming attackers.

The large one moves fluidly, confidently and heavily, like his weight is only advantage. She'll have to be wary of his brute strength, but despite the fluidity of his movements, Hinata can immediately sense that she'll be able to gain an advantage through speed. The smaller shape doesn't even seem to move. Even thorough and close watching of his chakra pattern gives away nothing. Not a single hint as to his abilities, his thoughts or his fighting methods. That very blankness feels too familiar for comfort, but Hinata can't quite place the feeling to tell who she's facing.

_I can't win against the both of them. I have to split them up._

Hinata's sharp byakugan eyes shift to encompass the full surroundings and she looks for the most strategically defensible spot. There's a river not too far. A cave behind the falls. A cliff with slippery edges. Perfect.

Kneeling to the white dog following her, she whispers, "Akamaru, you need to get back-up, do you understand?" The dog seems to negate her, growling a little under his breath, "Please Akamaru, I need you to protect me that way, okay? Kiba will understand. He's counting on you too."

It takes just a few precious seconds more to convince the animal, but he eventually leaves, leaping from branch to branch. Hinata feels bad for ordering him away from Kiba, but as things stand, she can't afford to have him around.

Despite the exhaustion in her muscles, Hinata runs and leaps gracefully to the river bed, setting up her explosive notes at the critical points. When that's done, she walks to the small crevice behind the harshly falling water and waits.

She's ready to give it all she's got.

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When Kiba wakes, the first thing he's aware of is being carried. And there's nothing that feels right about that, especially with the headache he's sporting. So in light of how wrong it feels to be carried (along with the slight thump-thump-thump that goes with Kiba's head hitting a rather large back) Kiba is very quickly reminded of his position and the circumstances which brought him to said position.

That in mind, it's completely natural for Kiba's first reaction to be slightly aggressive. The first thing he does is twist his body, jerking himself away from the man. Or at least that's what he was hoping for.

Kiba rapidly finds out that it's not going to be as easy as all that to escape the large man. Both his ankles and wrists are tied and Kiba realizes, just as he's pushing away from the man's shoulder, that the contact with the ground will hurt. First of all, they're up in a tree and second, those bonds are laced with chakra. As he finds himself plummeting to the ground, Kiba curses his dumb luck and braces himself for impact.

The man is quick to catch him though. Kiba's barely hit two branches (ow and ow again) before the man grabs a hold of him by the hood of his coat. For a second, Kiba feels like a puppy who got caught by the scruff of his neck. The feeling doesn't sit well with him so he turns to glare at the man, yelling, "What the fuck do you want? You better release me right this second!"

The man curiously cocks his head at Kiba, still holding him in midair. His deep toned voice echoes in the forest despite the softly spoken words, "Or what?"

Kiba growls at the man, baring his teeth in aggression. He twists his body in a useless attempt to do some sort of harm to the man. Moving around like that reminds him of two things. Firstly, he's hanging by the hood of his shirt and it's digging into his neck as he moves around, and secondly, his head hurts like someone had fun jumping on top of it. Which isn't so far from the truth.

In pure fury, Kiba shifts his body just enough to bite into the man's hand. He tastes blood and it makes him smirk proudly. The man reflexively releases his hold on him as his face twists in pain.

Kiba's eyes widen as he once again drops to the ground. Okay. So maybe biting the only thing holding him up wasn't such a good idea.

A branch makes firm contact with Kiba's chest and he gasps with the pain. He's fairly sure he heard something crack. But at least it slowed his fall a little... not enough... Fuck! Did the man _have_ to pick the tallest fucking tree in the forest to drop him from?

Suddenly, Kiba feels himself come to an abrupt halt and this time it's not his hood holding him up. This time, it's a firm hold on his hair that almost tears out every last one of them. "Holy fucking shit goddamn cocksucking son of a bitch!"

Far from having said his peace, Kiba continues to spew out curse after curse even as he's safely brought down to the ground. His head is pounding mercilessly and will someone _please_ stop the spinning?

Once on the floor, Kiba is unceremoniously dropped. He lands harshly and all of a sudden, his stomach decides it's had enough. Before he makes a mess of himself, Kiba turns his head to the ground and he retches up his dinner. Utterly disgusted and dizzy with pain, Kiba nonetheless shoots a murderous glare at his captor. With all the eloquence of a man bound, helpless and still drooling his dinner.

He turns and rolls away from the puddle of liquid he just left behind and breathes slowly for a few seconds. He's a little bit calmer, and he starts to glimpse the fact that struggling against bonds you can't break is a little useless. He's going to need another way out than just brute force.

_Damn. Couldn't you have kidnapped Shikamaru or something?_

The taste of his own bile lingering in his throat is the first thing on Kiba's mind. Apart from the pounding, ridiculously strong headache...

"Hey, you got any water? I just puked."

The man raises an eyebrow at him.

"I won't bite again." Kiba gives the man his most earnest look, his most innocent face.

The other eyebrow on the man joins the first.

"Fine. Be that way. What the hell do you want from me anyway?"

The man stands and walks close to Kiba. It's the first time the Inuzuka notices just how really _big_ the guy is. He's all muscle. _No wonder he hits so hard._

Kiba finds himself easily tugged to a sitting position. The movement isn't caring or anything, but it's not pointlessly brutal. He's surprised to find a water bottle at his lips.

"Drink." The stern word is no more and no less than an order, but it feels strange coming from the man. Kiba can't pin-point exactly why but he's not exactly in a state that makes reflection easy. So he drinks.

"Er, thanks, I guess. Are you gonna be like, 'I'm so mysterious and my mysteriousness is the most important thing to me and you won't ever escape'? 'cause that kinda sucks." The silence that greets him only spurs on Kiba. If anything, he can annoy the man into letting him go... or gag him, whichever comes first.

"So what do I call you, oh Kidnapping Murderer of Almighty Silence?"

"I did not kill them." The man's response has Kiba blinking. But then the grief returns and he growls at the man, "Why the hell should I believe you?"

"You may call me Ren. And I did not kill them. There was no need."

Kiba remains silent at that, for once. For some reason he can't explain, he feels compelled to believe the man. That doesn't mean he's all ready to cooperate with whatever bullshit the guy wants.

"So what _do_ you want from me?"

"Now is not the time. Danger is coming." It seems just an echo to the man's words when Kiba hears the explosion in the distance. It makes his instincts scream with the need to fight. Do something about it.

But the man won't let anything like that happen. He picks up Kiba like he's a bag of potatoes and shoulders him like one. "Don't struggle. I am saving your life."

Somehow, that sounds like truth. Kiba shuts his eyes and prays to any power listening to him that no one from Konoha was at that blast site.

**tbc...**

_Forget not to review for it makes me happy. A happy Gokkayu is a productive one. -wink-_

_**Some replies: **_

_Jamisen: Lol! I've rarely had such an enjoyable review! Thanks! And keep reading, heh?_

_Luna-Lunak: You like Ren! Yay! Means I didn't completely screw up. -g- I'm glad you hopped on this story too, I'm very proud of it. You rock for guessing right!_

_nyeh: Is Sasuke the Uke? -g- I don't think he's strong enough, emotionally, to pull it off. I hope I made up for neglecting Kiba in this chapter! _

_dark-wolf-soulX: Wow. That was really great for me to read, thank you. I'm flattered and very happy I could pull you into my world. (The more, the merrier!) As to the little girl... all the answers are in the next chapter... I promise! Again, thank you. Keep reading!_

_Doomforyou: Kickassity? Whoot! Can you explain to me what you meant by 'little late' though? I'm curious. (And a little crazy, but that's nothing new.) -blows kiss-_

_Jenanien: You don't love me that way? b..but... oh fine. -pout- I hope you liked this bit too, with the SasuNaru. And I hope I won't make you cry! Little blond girl is explained in Next Chapter... promise!_

_Lapse - Raevn: Yeah... Sasuke would make a terrible Uke for that reason, methinks. Too many weak points to permit himself another. Neji had a reason to be talking about ghosts before meeting the little girl... but it's not what you think! -teases-_

_XxHunter The One and OnlyxX: Hey! Welcome back! Glad the bills didn't eat you! -blows kisses-_

_TheSunshineGirls: Short and to the point. -loves-_

_Shadowbright: I love you. But you know that. -pokes- I still expect reviews, y'know! I'm just THAT demanding. -g-_


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